


Monster You Made Me

by DucksFan1015



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Avengers - Freeform, Iron Man - Freeform, Mysterio - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:01:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 35,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21827884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DucksFan1015/pseuds/DucksFan1015
Summary: Tony Stark has been through a lot at a young age. A lot of change happened all at once. Now, as head of Stark Industries, he's trying to straighten out everything in his life. Maybe it starts with his new intern.
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Quentin Beck & Tony Stark
Kudos: 23





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Tony Stark was not in the mood for any kind of party but it was being set up anyway. The relatively new CEO of Stark Industries, didn’t see anything to celebrate. He was twenty-six and he was overqualified to be in this position based on his knowledge and because of his father but he was nowhere near emotionally or mentally ready. He had a slight drinking problem or at least that was what all his friends told him. He wasn’t sure if he could call anyone around him a friend right now. He had started to isolate himself ever since his parents were killed in a car crash five years ago. He knew he needed to keep moving on but it was something that was going to affect him forever. Keeping busy was his best shot so he spent his time working until he literally passed out in the lab every night. He was a bit of a mess, but that didn’t stop his brain from working. He was working hard on plenty of side projects apart from his main focus on weapons. Since he was barely sleeping, it gave him extra hours that he hadn’t had before. 

“It might be easier if you make some friends tonight instead of sulking,” James Rhodes eyed him from across the table.

Tony rolled his eyes as he watched people setting up his tower to be home to a million other people tonight, “There is going to be no one of any interest to me at this party, Rhodey.”

“Pepper will be.”

Tony glared at him, “She’s my assistant.”

“And you always give her that look.”

“What look? There’s no look.”

“There is,” Rhodey insisted, “It’s that ‘admiration and love’ look.”

“Oh shut up,” Tony groaned, “I’m not going to sleep with my assistant.”

“You need to get out and start doing stuff again,” Rhodey nodded at him, “That’s the only way that you’re going to get out of this….whatever this is.”

“I am doing fine, thank you,” Tony replied.

“Come on,” Rhodey nodded, “Take a couple days off from all the work. Go out and find a nice woman.”

“I don’t need anything. I just gotta keep working,” Tony nodded, “If I focus on work then that’s all I focus on. Imagine a date asking what my family’s like. How do you think that’ll go over?”

“They won’t ask that,” Rhodey frowned.

“They might. Or I’ll get sympathetic looks from them,” Tony shook his head, “I’m not going to go on any date.”

Rhodey nodded, “Alright, but take my initial advice. Find some friends tonight or something. Or at least have fun. Don’t go lock yourself up in your lab. Be around people tonight. No one is going to be talking about what happened.”

“We’ll see,” Tony did not plan on going to the party. He would be there for the first fifteen minutes, make a little speech, talk to a couple people on his way out and then leave. He didn’t have any reason to hang out with all of them.

“I’m not going to see you there at all, am I?” Rhodey sighed, “At least make this interesting for me. Hang out with me.”

Tony looked over at his friend. He knew Rhodey was right but Tony was stubborn. He hated admitting that he had any kind of problem that he couldn’t fix by himself. He always had so many solutions to the problems that they ran into while building their weapons or when he was working on his side projects. But for his own personal problems, he didn’t have any kind of solution. 

“I really think you need to meet some new people,” Rhodey nodded, “How bad can opening yourself up to someone else?”

“They could die,” Tony nodded. 

Rhodey paused for a minute and gave him a look, “Reasonable, Tony.”

“That’s very reasonable,” Tony huffed, “I work on weapons. Anything could go wrong.”

Rhodey sighed, “I’m telling you, it’ll be good. Then you can have someone to monitor your drinking.”

“Jarvis does it,” Tony nodded.

“Jarvis does what he tells you to do,” Rhodey rolled his eyes.

“Exactly,” Tony nodded, “And he can’t physically stop me, so it all works out. He advises me when I should stop and I don’t listen.”

“We’re all worried about you, Tony,” Rhodey sighed, “You’re brilliant and I don’t want to lose anymore friends.”

“I’m incredibly stubborn,” Tony nodded, “Alcohol can’t kill me.”

Rhodey laughed softly and shook his head, “Just have fun tonight. No work and not too much alcohol.”

“No promises,” Tony replied as he finished eating lunch, “When does this thing start anyway?”

“Six,” Rhodey nodded, “So...you know. You have time to pull yourself together.”

“I’m incredibly pulled together,” Tony got up with him and they walked, “I’ll see you tonight for a little bit.”

“Good,” Rhodey waved to him as they parted ways. Tony sighed as he went back to his lab. He had a few hours before he even had to think about getting ready. He shut and locked the doors before telling Jarvis to pull up one of his side projects.

<>

Tony wasn’t going to admit that the only reason he actually got to the party on time was because both Rhodey and Pepper called him three times to remind him he had to be there. He finally tore himself away from his work and got dressed. He did his hair and put his glasses on. He knew there would be plenty of scientists looking for assistance on projects or looking to be part of Stark Industries. He was planning on turning them all down. He didn’t need anymore people than he had. He fixed his tie and then headed to the party. His entire first floor of the tower had been transformed into a huge space for people to gather and there were already plenty of them there. He was regretting this already. At six, he got up in front of the crowd and thanked them all for coming. He said a few things about the advancements Stark Industries had made and what they were planning for the future and then got off the podium. He got intercepted almost immediately by scientists asking to talk to him about investments and such. He managed to escape from them rather quickly by promising he’d talk to them later but he had someone he needed to get to. He managed to find Rhodey and he let out a breath as he took a drink, “This. This is your fault.”

“What? I just wanted company at YOUR party,” Rhodey looked at him.

“I already got swarmed,” Tony sighed as he sat down next to him, “I don’t want anyone working for me. It would have to be a very special case to hire anyone else.”

“A special case, huh?” Rhodey laughed, “Like what? You?”

“Exactly,” Tony nodded, “If there’s another me here, hire him.”

Rhodey snorted, “Okay. How interested are you in a kid that graduated from MIT this year?”

“Lots of people graduate from MIT,” Tony replied.

“He’s eighteen.”

Tony looked at him, “What?”

“If I’m not mistaken. That’s just one year older than when you graduated, right?” Rhodey asked. 

Tony was quiet for a few minutes. He wasn’t sure exactly what to say to that. He wasn’t expecting Rhodey to actually have someone in mind. “Where did you hear about him?”

“He’s here,” Rhodey nodded, “His professor brought him.”

Tony looked at him, “The kid’s here? He can’t even get in can he?”

“Like I said, his professor brought him,” Rhodey nodded. His friend eyed him for a minute and then grinned, “You want to meet him don’t you?”

Tony got up and set his drink down, “Maybe.”

Rhodey laughed softly, “Go get him.”

Tony made his way through the crowds, looking for anyone who looked eighteen and uncomfortable. He knew some of the professors from MIT so he hoped he recognized one of them or something. He scanned the faces. He was so busy looking around he didn’t pay attention to where he was going. Next thing he knew, he was covered in someone’s drink, “Ah, fucking hell…” 

“Oh my god….oh my god, Mr. Stark, sir, I am so...I am so sorry, I...this is completely my fault, I’m so sorry.”

Tony couldn’t even comprehend what exactly this guy was saying to him. He was speaking so fast and he finally looked at who he had bumped into. His eyes met a pair of horrified blue ones. He opened his mouth to speak before he saw what was in the guy’s hand. “Are you drinking water?”

The guy stared at him for a moment, “I….yes. Water won’t stain, so that’s good at least. I swear, I didn’t mean to get it all over you.”

Tony wasn’t even thinking about his wet shirt at the moment, “Why’re you drinking water?”

“I….can’t legally drink,” the man said and Tony froze. This had to be him.

“You’re the MIT graduate,” Tony looked at him, “You’re eighteen.”

The boy looked at him, “Yeah...you...you heard about me?”

“My friend said he met you and your professor,” Tony nodded, “Hey, kid….how’d you like a real drink?”

“Uh…”

“Great, come on,” Tony turned and headed to the bar. He heard the quick footsteps behind him and smiled slightly. The kid was at least amusing. He sat down on one of the stools close to the end so they wouldn’t be bothered. The boy got in the seat next to him and glanced at him nervously. Tony turned to the bartender and ordered two drinks for them. “So, MIT at eighteen is impressive.”

“You did it at seventeen, sir,” the boy replied. 

“I know what I did,” Tony looked at him, “The question is…,” he paused, “What’s your name, kid?”

“Quentin Beck, sir.”

“Alright, Quentin,” Tony nodded, “The question is, what have you done?”

“I...oh, well...I haven’t done anything that’s special…,” Quentin trailed off and stared at the wood.

“Then this conversation is over,” Tony got up, “Enjoy your drink.”

Quentin almost flew out of his seat, his eyes wide before he rattled off a list of achievements and titles he’d earned throughout his entire education and not failing to mention that many teachers had called him the ‘Next Tony Stark’. Tony listened to him talk about his ideas and what he wanted to work on and what he could do really well.

“Take a breath, kid,” Tony said after about ten minutes of Quentin talking nonstop. The boy stopped for a moment and inhaled slowly. 

“I’m sorry…”

“Don’t apologize for being one of the smartest people in the room,” Tony gave him a small smile. Quentin looked like he was going to pass out, throw up, cry, or all three of those things. 

“Th-Thank you, Mr. Stark...hearing that from you is...is incredible,” Quentin ducked his head.

“Why are you here?” Tony asked him. 

“I...I want to work with you,” Quentin said softly, “I admire you...I always have. Ever since I saw your work, I wanted to be just like you. I learn really fast as you can see and I’ve been working on a lot of stuff that I think can help.”

Tony looked at him, “That’s a lot of talk coming from an eighteen year old.”

Quentin looked at him, “It’s not talk. I can do these things. Besides, if you’re talking to an eighteen year old, then you must have seen something you liked.”

Tony met the boy’s eyes and gave him a small smile, “My friend made a comment about the fact that I would only hire myself onto my own team.”

Quentin frowned slightly at him.

“I think you’re going to be the closest I get,” Tony continued and he saw the boy’s face light up instantly.

“Really?”

“I’ll need to give you a period of time...say an internship where I can decide whether or not you’ll be useful,” Tony nodded, “If you pass, then you’ll stay on my team.”

Quentin nodded, “I can do that. When can I start?”

“Monday morning,” Tony nodded, “We’ll get your background checked this weekend so I can make sure you didn’t just lie to me for a half hour. On Monday, you’ll be given a tour and given all your keys and passes.”

“Thank you so much, sir,” Quentin shook his hand, “This is such an honor for me...I….I’m speechless…”

“Try to work on….breathing,” Tony looked at him, “You know, so you don’t pass out on the job.”

“Yes, sir,” Quentin nodded instantly and stood up a little straighter, taking a deep breath, “I will see you on Monday morning, sir.”

“See you then, kid,” Tony turned from him and then headed away from the bar. He went to find Rhodey and found his friend just outside the door. He walked over to stand next to him. 

“Did you find him?” 

“I did,” Tony nodded, “We spoke.”

“And you hired him.”

“I did,” Tony hummed, “He starts on Monday.”

“Did you hire him because he’s going to be a good addition to your team? Or because the thought of actually having some competition somewhere else is not good at all for you?”

Tony laughed softly, “He gets an internship period where I see what he’s capable of.”

“You really did do it to see what your competition is,” Rhodey groaned.

“No, not entirely. You said yourself. The only other person I would hire is myself. He’s the closest I have right now. For better or worse,” Tony nodded, “Besides, maybe he’ll be a very helpful addition to the team.”

Rhodey nodded, “I hope so...he seemed like a nice kid. What happened to your shirt?”

“Let’s just say that thankfully, he’s under drinking age or this would’ve been alcohol and the shirt could’ve been ruined,” Tony nodded.

“He flung water on you?”

“I ran into him,” Tony admitted. “If he’d flung water on me, I would not have hired him. He praised me like a god.”

“You hate that.”

“I do. But he was smart.”

Rhodey shook his head, “I guess I did tell you to go out and meet people.”

“Look, I did just as you asked,” Tony grinned at him. 

“You want to go run off don’t you?”

“Absolutely,” Tony nodded, “And I’m going to. Tell anyone who asks for me that I had to leave early.”

“If you think I’m sticking around after you run off, you’re wrong,” Rhodey snorted, “See you around, Tony.”

“See you Rhodey,” Tony watched him head out before he left as well, heading home. He sent an email to the staff of the tower, preparing them for a new arrival on Monday morning before heading to his computer and searching the boy’s name from earlier. He hadn’t lied about anything. The kid was a genius just like he’d been. He read about all his achievements, many of them Tony had gotten as well. Then he turned to family and frowned. He was missing both his parents. The similarities were starting to freak him out a little so he shut off the computer for now. He was going to have to figure out how he wanted to judge the kid’s performance for the next few weeks. He decided to stay up and work on his plans for his new intern instead of sleeping. He’d pass out when he was tired.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

When Tony arrived at the tower on Monday morning, he saw that their new addition was already there, waiting in front of the doors. Tony had spent most of the weekend working out how he wanted to handle Quentin Beck. He figured he just wanted him to sort of work as his assistant for a while and then if he handled himself well, he could join the team. He walked up to the boy and glanced at him, “Are you ready?”

“Yes,” Quentin nodded immediately. Tony led him inside and started to show him around a little bit. He took him to the security office where they took his picture for his ID and key cards. He could tell the boy was excited. His eyes barely stopped moving as he tried to look at everything at once. Tony hoped that he’d calm down soon. The energy radiating from him was distracting. After Quentin had his stuff printed, they left the security office and headed out on the rest of the tour. 

“So,” Tony began as they walked through the halls, “You’ll be working directly for me for a few weeks. You’ll be my assistant.”

“What am I going to be doing?” Quentin asked him as he looked through some of the windows into the labs.

“Just assistant stuff,” Tony nodded, “Getting me stuff I need, doing stuff I’m not going to do. You’re a smart kid, you’ll get things done.”

Quentin looked at him, “Okay...am I going to get to work on anything with you?”

“Possibly,” Tony looked at him, “It depends what I’m working on and when.”

Quentin nodded, “I’ll work with you whenever you want.”

“Don’t agree to something you don’t know about,” Tony shook his head as they continued walking. Quentin glanced at him but stayed silent as they kept going. Tony showed him the labs and walked him through them, introducing him to some of the project leaders. He could tell this was like a dream come true for the kid. He hoped that Quentin got a reality check soon. Most of the time the work was frustrating. 

“Hey Tony, those SHIELD people are contacting you again,” Pepper came over to him. He gave her a look right as he heard a gasp from next to him.

“You work with SHIELD?” Quentin looked at him, “Aren’t they like the highest level of government security? Some people don’t even believe that they exist! Are they really real?”

Tony sighed, “Yes, they’re real. No, I do not work with them. I ignore their calls.”

“Is this your new intern?” Pepper asked, looking around him to see Quentin.

“Yes,” Tony nodded, “We’re seeing how this goes. Pepper, this is Quentin. Quentin, my personal assistant, Pepper Potts.”

“Nice to meet you,” Quentin smiled and held out his hand. He shook her hand and Tony saw him wink at her, “I’m Quentin Beck.”

“Okay, and you will never do that again,” Tony grabbed his arm and pulled him away, “I’ll get back to you about SHIELD later, Ms. Potts!”

Quentin stumbled after him and followed him, “Hey, what’s all that about?”

“I’m not going to have you winking at my personal assistant,” Tony looked at him, “You literally, just got here, Beck. Don’t fuck it up.”

Quentin stared at him in shock, “You swore at me.”

“I did. Get used to it. We don’t have any restrictions,” Tony replied.

“Oh…,” Quentin nodded and followed him further down the hall, “So you like her then?”

“What?” Tony turned to look at him again. “You’re spewing nonsense.”

“Well, that’s why you have a problem with it, right?” Quentin nodded at him again. 

“I am not having this conversation with you,” Tony groaned, “If you know what’s good for your job stability, you should keep your mouth shut.”

“Alright, alright,” Quentin kept walking. Tony eyed him. He wasn’t sure how he felt about this boy yet. They kept walking and Tony showed him through the offices and more workspaces. 

“You’ll work in my lab with me,” Tony nodded as they kept going. “Mostly observing for now.”

“I get to watch you work?” Quentin looked at him and Tony was surprised to see that he actually seemed excited about that.

“Yeah. And not touch anything,” Tony opened the door to his lab, “Come on in.”

Quentin grinned and stepped inside, looking around. Tony shut the door and locked it. He usually kept the place pretty messy and it still was. He could tell Quentin was trying not to run to each table and pick up everything. “Will these things actually fire?”

“Not in here,” Tony looked at him, “They aren’t done yet. We have testing in the basement for smaller weapons and bigger ones have to go to a site. You’ll come with me if you’re still here when that happens.”

“That sounds cool,” Quentin grinned as his eyes scanned the tables. 

“Hey Jarvis, bring up Quentin’s file, please,” Tony called as he walked over. A screen appeared in front of the two of them.

“Right away, sir.”

Quentin took a step back, his eyes widening slightly as the screen scrolled through files and opened others. Tony smiled slightly when they were looking at Quentin’s file.

“Jarvis is my computer,” Tony nodded.

“That’s crazy,” Quentin grinned. Tony pointed at the screen.

“So this is you. You’re in our databases,” Tony nodded.

Quentin looked back at the screen and nodded, “Yeah. Can I ask Jarvis to do stuff?”

“No, he only listens to me and Pepper,” Tony replied.

“When I work here officially, can I ask him things?” Quentin asked.

“You can ask him things, he just won’t do them,” Tony nodded.

Quentin grinned, “Cool.”

Tony rolled his eyes and then moved around the room, “When you’re done looking around, you can sit at the desk over there.”

Quentin nodded and kept walking around the room. Tony got started on one of his side projects again. He focused on his work and tried to ignore the other presence in the room. He wasn’t used to it. He never heard Quentin sit down. Maybe that was why he looked up after a half hour and took a step back when he realized that his intern was standing across the table from him.

“I thought I told you to sit down?”

“You said when I was done looking around,” Quentin nodded, “I’m not done yet.” He turned his attention back to the project Tony was working on.

“Okay, but I can’t work with someone hovering over me like that,” Tony shook his head.

“Let me help then,” Quentin nodded, “I’m smart, I can help you figure things out.”

“No way,” Tony laughed, “Not for a while.”

Quentin frowned slightly and took a step back, “So...am I like doing coffee runs for you?”

“Alcohol runs preferably,” Tony nodded.

“I can’t buy alcohol,” Quentin pointed out.

“You can go to the penthouse and get it, though,” Tony replied. “Go on a lunch break and come back with a bottle of something good from upstairs, alright?”

Quentin sighed and nodded. He turned and left the lab. Tony watched him go before turning back to work. He was working on some tech for a weapons presentation. If Quentin didn’t get on his nerves too much, maybe he’d bring the kid with him. It would be good experience. He didn’t know why he was thinking that he was going to be keeping this guy around. He’d probably quit or Tony would find some flaw with him and kick him out. 

“Hey Jarvis, where’s Beck?”

“He’s on the first floor, eating lunch.”

“Tell him to go grab me something from across the street and the company will pay him.”

“Right away, sir.”

Tony watched the screen and saw Quentin’s head shoot up, most likely when Jarvis started speaking to him. The kid got up and headed out the door. Tony watched him leave and then got back to his project. “Tell me when he gets back.”

“Will do, sir.”

Tony nodded to himself and then started moving pieces around again. He had the instructions displayed on the screen in front of him. This would work just how it was supposed to. About twenty minutes later, Jarvis announced that Quentin was back. “Where is he headed?”

“The penthouse, sir.”

“Good,” Tony smiled to himself. At least he was good at listening to instructions. A half hour later, which was a little longer than Tony would’ve liked, Quentin came back in with lunch and alcohol. 

“I hope this is up to your expectations,” Quentin said as he set the stuff down on the side table next to Tony’s desk. 

“What took you so long?”

“I don’t know alcohol very well,” Quentin admitted.

“You could’ve asked Jarvis,” Tony pointed out.

Quentin’s face turned bright red, “I could have…”

“It’s fine. This works,” Tony replied as he poured himself a glass. He slid a glass to his intern as he began to eat and work at the same time. Quentin took a sip of the drink and made a face. Tony looked at him, “What?”

“Nothing, this is….really good,” Quentin forced a nod. Tony snorted and shook his head.

“You don’t have to lie.”

“No, I’m serious,” Quentin managed, setting the glass down, “It’s so good.”

“Yeah? Finish it.”

“Wh-What?” Quentin stared at him.

“Finish it, if you’re enjoying it so much,” Tony watched him. He found Beck somewhat amusing. Quentin slowly picked up the glass and looked at the rest of the alcohol in the bottom of the glass.

“I’m not going to like….get drunk off this, right?”

“No, it’s barely anything,” Tony replied, leaning forward to watch him. Quentin looked back at him and then at the glass again. Tony could tell he was preparing himself to take it down in one gulp. Quentin took a breath and then downed the rest of the alcohol in the glass. He set the glass down and then coughed. “I honestly didn’t think you would do that.”

Quentin wiped his face with the sleeve of his jacket, “I didn’t think I would either.”

“Why’d you do it?”

“You told me to.”

“I said if you liked it. And after that disgusted look you gave it, I don’t think you did.”

Quentin ducked his head, “I didn’t really but...I figured it wouldn’t be bad to give it a second chance.”

Tony looked at him, “You’re trying to impress me, aren’t you?”

“Is it really that obvious?” Quentin asked softly.

“Extremely,” Tony nodded. 

“I just really want this to work out,” Quentin admitted.

Tony sighed and sat down, “You aren’t going to get anywhere by drinking alcohol with me. Work ethic and attitude is the most important thing to me. Don’t worry so much.”

“Okay,” Quentin said softly.

“So no alcohol for you then?” Tony laughed softly.

“At least not that,” Quentin nodded as he sat down across from Tony and put his glasses on, “So what’re we working on.”

“I’M working on a side project which is none of your business,” Tony glared at him. 

Quentin looked up at the screen in front of him and then reached up, turning it around so he could see it, “That looks cool…”

“What. Are you doing?” Tony stared at him.

“This is a side project?”

“It is. Until I decide to sell it.”

Quentin nodded and looked at the screen before he reached over and pulled another one up. He made a copy of the diagram that Tony had up and posted it up on his screen, “It would be more effective with the gauge on top rather than the bottom….”

Tony stared at the kid as he navigated the screens like he’d been doing it his entire life. He took pieces apart and put them in different spots.

“The bottom shouldn’t really be used for anything with this prototype,” Quentin frowned as he adjusted it, “Leave it for further improvements.”

“You just completely altered my tech,” Tony looked at him.

“I made it better,” Quentin smiled at him.

“How do you even know how to work these?” Tony looked at him, “I didn’t show you that.”

“You’ve been using one since we got in here. I just watched you,” Quentin nodded.

“I’ll give you points, kid,” Tony looked at him, “You’re smart.”

Quentin ducked his head and smiled, “Thank you, sir.”

“But that doesn’t give you permission to alter my stuff,” Tony looked at Quentin’s model, comparing it to his own, “You overlooked this part. The bottom needs to be done first, because this part here can work here. There’s no guarantee that a further improvement will be able to function properly there.”

Quentin listened to him and then nodded slightly, “Okay….”

Tony nodded at him and moved that piece back to where it belonged. He compared their models again and then got back to work, “That’s the only critique I have.”

Quentin glanced up at him. Tony gave him a small smile over the table as he worked on the tech on his desk. His intern smiled back at him and sat down, watching him work. Tony supposed he didn’t really mind having someone else around for right now. Quentin seemed alright. He worked with his intern watching him for most of the rest of the day. He stayed overtime and the boy didn’t even mind. It was late when he finally realized that they had been here much longer than he was expecting to be here with him. Especially since it was the kid’s first day. He shut down the screens and sighed.

“Hey, kid, time to go….” he looked over to where Quentin had been sitting. He paused when he saw him with his head buried in his arms, back rising and falling evenly. Had he really fallen asleep on the table? Tony sighed and moved over to shake him awake but apparently Quentin was a heavy sleeper. He didn’t even stir. Tony glanced around and then managed to pull his intern off the chair and onto the couch in the corner of the room. He made sure there was nothing left around that would hurt him if he fell off the couch or something in his sleep. Tony cleaned up some of his stuff and then settled back at the table to keep working. He poured himself a glass of whiskey and then looked back at the boy asleep on the couch. He shouldn’t really be passed out in here when he woke up. It would look bad. Should he leave him alone in the lab for the night and go pass out upstairs? What if he woke up and started touching things? Tony wasn’t sure he trusted the kid yet. He sighed and closed down the screens so it was pretty dark in the room. “Jarvis, turn the lights off in ten minutes.”

“Will do, sir.”

Tony went over to the other spare couch in the room. He sat down and drank a little more. Not enough for him to black out, but enough so that his mind was a little fuzzy and he couldn’t really focus on anything. That would be good enough for him to fall asleep tonight. That way, he could wake up the next morning without much of a problem. He sighed. This intern was messing up his routine. He glanced over at the other couch where Quentin was still sound asleep. He couldn’t believe the kid had stayed this long. It was so late and he hadn’t even said anything. Either he’d lost track of time too, or he’d just really wanted to stay. Tony was almost hoping that it was the second one.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Tony had to admit it was almost like he had another version of himself working with him. Quentin wasn’t technically supposed to be touching anything in the lab per Tony’s instructions, but he found himself letting up a little when it was obvious the intern was good at working on the tech here. He didn’t want him to have too much freedom or he would get out of control and forget his place here. He had a feeling that the boy was just waiting to get his hands on something that was dangerous. He really didn’t want to deal with any of the accidents that might happen to him if something was to go wrong. Quentin was doing a good job though, and he listened well when Tony told him to back off or go do something else instead of hovering over him while he worked. The only problem was that Quentin was always asleep before Tony was. They always lost track of time and the intern would pass out at his desk and just sleep there until Tony dragged him to the couch in the lab. Tony had stopped really caring if Quentin saw him drinking too much after the first few nights of the boy sleeping over. He didn’t care if the kid slept here, as long as he didn’t touch anything. He asked Jarvis to wake him up if Quentin woke up at any time during the night and actually got up. He didn’t fully trust him yet. Work was going smoothly for the most part and he began to actually like the company. Even if Quentin was a little annoying sometimes. He was too quick, making decisions too fast before thinking them through fully. Tony would have to try and fix that with him because there would be issues with him creating tech if he went with his first instinct all the time. He still had time to work on that with him though. It would be fine. He wanted to keep the kid once his internship was done. Their conversations were good, for the most part. Minds like theirs debating how to make things work was always good. It was nice to have someone else helping him in the lab. He’d been alone for a very long time now.

“Mr. Stark?”

Tony slowly opened his eyes and frowned when he saw Quentin standing over him with a concerned frown on his face.

“Mr. Stark?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m awake, what’s wrong? Why didn’t Jarvis wake me up?”

“He tried,” Quentin admitted, “You didn’t even move. I was worried.”

“You didn’t touch anything did you?”

“Just my desk….I went and got us breakfast,” Quentin nodded, “If that makes it any better. Are you hungover?”

“No, I’m fine,” Tony grumbled as he got up, “What time is it?”

“It’s ten in the morning,” Quentin watched him, “We’re supposed to go to weapons testing this afternoon, remember?”

“Fuck,” Tony muttered. He’d forgotten about that. “Clean up and look nice. Be ready by one.”

“Okay...do you need any help?” Quentin looked at him, “Are you sure you’re feeling alright?”

“I’m fine,” Tony replied quickly as he grabbed his jacket and left the lab. He knew getting drunk last night was a bad idea, but Beck had fallen asleep so early that he decided it would be fine. How wrong he was about that. He got cleaned up as best he could and took some aspirin to get rid of his headache. Today would go well.   
A couple hours later, he headed down to the main floor where the rest of his team was waiting. Quentin was standing a little off to the side as well. He nodded at everyone and then took his intern’s shoulder, leading him along with him so they would ride together. He couldn’t imagine letting him ride with the others. He’d talk their ears off. Quentin followed him into the car and they sat down. 

“How long is the ride?” Quentin asked as they started to drive away from the tower.

“About an hour and a half,” Tony replied, “Try not to talk the whole time.”

“Okay,” Quentin agreed. It was quiet for about ten minutes at most before the intern was talking to some of the other people in the car. Tony tried not to roll his eyes. He waited for a little until everyone had kind of dismissed Quentin as just an obnoxious intern before he sighed.

“I told you to just relax and enjoy the ride.”

“But I’m excited. I’ve never seen weapons testing before. And your stuff is probably incredible!”

“Just relax, will you? Everyone is serious here, see?”

“Sorry, sorry,” Quentin said, glancing away. Tony sighed and they continued their ride. It was another twenty minutes of silence before he decided to break it.

“Why do you sleep here every night?” Tony looked at him, “I know you could keep track of time.”

Quentin looked at him and then glanced away, “I just get wrapped up in what we’re working on….”

“Beck.”

“Yes, sir?”

“Be honest with me.” Tony could see the kid struggling. He just stayed quiet until Quentin took a breath.

“I don’t like being alone…”

Tony looked at him, “What?”

“I finished college and….I have a place but it’s really small and I’m all alone there,” Quentin said softly, “I don’t like being by myself because then I think too much.”

Tony paused for a moment. He felt like he knew exactly how the kid felt. Getting trapped in your own head was the worst. 

“I get stuck in my thoughts,” Quentin looked at him, “I’m a danger to myself when I do that...so staying with you let’s me work until I’m exhausted and then sleep…”

“That’s not healthy,” Tony looked at him. 

“You can’t tell me that what you do is any healthier.”

“Don’t bring me into this,” Tony met his eyes, “You’re eighteen.”

“You’re twenty-six.”

“Quentin.”

“Mr. Stark, if I lose you, I don’t have anything left.”

Tony looked at him in surprise when the boy said that, “What are you talking about?”

“There’s no one else I look up to…,” Quentin shrugged, “I won’t have any motivation to keep going…”

“Oh stop,” Tony huffed, “You’re being dramatic.”

“I’m not!” Quentin insisted.

“Listen kid, don’t be like that,” Tony shook his head. 

“My parents are gone,” Quentin looked at him, “Who else am I supposed to look to?”

“Someone better than me,” Tony replied, ending the conversation just as quickly as it started. Quentin sat silently next to him as they drove down to the testing grounds. Tony did not want someone relying on him like that. He could barely take care of himself, let alone someone else. He wasn’t going to be able to handle something like that so Quentin had to snap out of that mindset really fast. They pulled into the parking area and the doors opened. Tony stepped out and made sure Quentin was behind him before he headed over to the others. 

“Mr. Stark,” one of the men nodded, “We’ll proceed when you’re ready.”

“Go ahead,” Tony nodded. Quentin took a couple steps back to stand with him and they watched the testing begin. They stood together while the men explained the procedures before each test and then showed them how the final product would work. Tony made some mental adjustments to a few that weren’t ready to be sold, but for the most part, they were all good to go. Quentin was enjoying the testing, he could tell. It definitely wasn’t everyday you got to go out for a Stark Industries weapon test. 

“Will we test those side projects you’re working on?” Quentin looked at him during a break.

“What do you mean?”

“The things you’re building in the lab,” Quentin nodded, “Will we test those one day, too?”

“Maybe one day,” Tony replied, “Not anytime soon.”

“I want to see those work,” Quentin nodded. Tony just turned back to the next demonstration. He still had plenty to work on for his side projects. He didn’t see them being done anytime soon and they’d be tested privately. He didn’t want an audience for anything like that. Not yet. They spent most of the day out at the testing grounds before they got back in the car to head back to Stark Tower. They had gotten food delivered to them so they ate on the way back. “Mr. Stark?”

“What?”

“How do you...deal with not being able to sleep?”

Tony looked over at Quentin who was finishing up his food, “I don’t know, kid...I just work until I pass out.”

Quentin nodded slightly and stared out the window, “Do you ever feel like you’re going crazy?”

“All the time.”

“How do you deal with that?”

“I don’t know.”

Quentin turned back to look at him, “I won’t talk about it, if it bothers you...I just, thought maybe you could understand.”

“I do...I just don’t know how to help you with anything,” Tony said quietly, “I’m sorry, Quentin, but I’m not the right person to come to for any kind of counseling.”

Quentin nodded slightly, “Okay…”

Tony turned away from him as they finished their ride back to the tower. Once they got back, he told Quentin to head back to the lab. After the kid was gone, he went to find Pepper. He found her in the penthouse. “Hey.”

“Back from the testing?”

Tony nodded, “I have a task for you…”

“What is it?” Pepper looked at him.

“Do we have any spare, empty rooms here?” 

Pepper thought for a moment, “Yes, I think on the same floor as your own room.”

Tony nodded, “I need another set up. Bed, closet, furniture, all the necessary stuff.”

“You want another bedroom here?”

“Yes,” Tony made his way toward the elevator.

“It’s for your intern, isn’t it? Have you two been falling asleep together in your lab?”

Tony sighed, “He doesn’t have anywhere else to go. And for some reason, I can’t just let him go home by himself.”

“Because he’s alone?”

“I don’t know why, but I can’t.”

Pepper nodded slightly, “I’ll get to renovating the room starting tomorrow. He should be able to move there in a day or two.”

“Thank you,” Tony gave her a small smile.

“You’re doing a good thing, Tony,” Pepper smiled back at him.

“You won’t think that when he’s here all the time walking around like he owns the place,” Tony pointed out.

“I’m pretty sure I can handle him if I can handle you,” Pepper laughed softly.

Tony rolled his eyes but smiled, “Don’t say that, you love me.”

“Get back to work.”

Tony put his hands up and then headed to the elevator, heading back to his lab. He decided he’d tell Quentin now since he’d be able to move in very soon. He opened the door and saw his intern stretched out on the couch, with his eyes closed. “Beck.”

“Yes, sir?” Quentin didn’t open his eyes.

“You retiring for the day?”

“Are we doing something else?”

“I’m going to work, but you don’t have to if you don’t want. Your day is done.”

“Maybe I’ll watch.”

Tony looked at him for a moment and decided Quentin wasn’t serious about that since he hadn’t moved from the couch, “I have an announcement before you go back to sleep.”

“What is it?”

“I talked with Pepper and-”

“You asked her out?”

Tony glared at him even though the boy couldn’t see his expression, “No, I asked her about rooms here at the tower. There’s some available ones on the upper floors of the tower.”

Quentin’s eyes opened and he sat up, “What’re you saying?”

“While you work here, you’re welcome to live here,” Tony nodded.

“Really? You’d let me?” Quentin stood up.

“Yes, but there are some ground rules.”

“Of course there are.”

“You can’t go running around the tower at night,” Tony said, “Or touching stuff that you shouldn’t. It’s just a room for you to sleep in so you don’t have to sleep in the lab.”

“Thank you, sir,” Quentin nodded, ducking his head.

“And….no walking around like you own the place.”

“No promises,” Quentin smiled at him. Tony huffed and sat down.

“Just go back to sleep, it’s nicer when you don’t talk.”

Quentin laughed softly, “And here I thought you were finally enjoying my voice.”

Tony shook his head and focused on his work. He saw Quentin relax back on the couch and eventually fall asleep. He couldn’t help the feeling in his chest. Maybe he could help this kid a little bit. He’d never thought about the fact that helping someone could maybe help him too. He felt pretty good about what he was doing right now. Seeing the relief and the happiness on Quentin’s face was worth having him here all the time. It was too late to save himself, but maybe he could try and save others. He glanced back at Quentin who was sleeping soundly on the couch. He had a feeling of responsibility that he didn’t want. He didn’t want to be responsible for anyone except himself. But now that he was keeping Quentin around...he felt like if anything happened to him, it would be his fault. That was why he was so worried about taking him to the weapon testing. If something were to have gone wrong and the boy was injured, Tony would’ve blamed himself for it. He sighed and poured himself a glass of whiskey. Tonight was going to be a very long night.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Tony had finally started to let Quentin assist him while he worked on his prototypes for his side projects. The company had just sold a lot of weapons so they had a little down time and it was good for Tony. He didn’t have to stress too much about all the business aspects of things and he could just focus on his own works that he would eventually release. He did get more time to spend with Quentin. The boy was proving himself useful and Tony knew that he would end up hiring him full time. He wanted another mind like his in the industry. He had a feeling they’d be able to do some incredible things. He was actually kind of looking forward to working with him. But for now, he had to keep the kid’s ego in check. He didn’t need him getting too excited about the future. Quentin’s living situation hadn’t taken much getting used to since Tony spent most of his time in the tower anyway, he was around to keep an eye on him. He was quite sure that sleeping in an actual bed was much better than the uncomfortable couches in the lab and his intern did seem well rested each morning when he came in with coffee for both of them every day. He hadn’t really examined Quentin’s room or checked on him much. He was eighteen, he could take care of himself and Tony wasn’t really interested with whatever he was doing. 

“Good morning, Mr. Stark,” Quentin’s voice carried over from the doors to the lab. Tony looked up to see the boy happily coming over with two coffees in his hand.

“Beck.”

“Did you sleep at all?”

“Yes, I did. Don’t ask that question.”

“Ms. Potts was worried about you,” Quentin clarified as he handed Tony his cup.

“Thanks kid,” Tony took a sip of the drink and sighed, “I did sleep last night.”

“Me too,” Quentin nodded, “That room is so nice, thank you so much…”

“It’s not a big deal.”

“It is to me,” Quentin replied. Tony sighed and shook his head as he set his cup down and looked over his project. “What one are we working on today?”

“The prototype for the wrist is almost done,” Tony nodded.

Quentin leaned over the table and looked at the metal device on the table. Tony watched him for a moment before looking back at it as well. It was a metal wristband, a little bulkier than Tony wanted, but he would work on that. It shot out rays from a repulsor on the top that would flip up and down depending on when it was in use. It wasn’t the best design, but he was planning on going back and fixing any of the flaws after his first test of it.

“I’m going to test it soon,” Tony nodded, “Not yet, there are still some problems. Shooting that right now will not end well.”

Quentin nodded slightly, “And it adjusts to the wrist size?”

“Yeah, I’m definitely keeping that part,” Tony nodded, “Then we don’t have to make a million in different sizes and they’ll stay secure. We don’t want any accidents with these things.”

“Right,” Quentin smiled, “I can’t wait to see test day on this.”

“What makes you think you’re coming?” Tony took another drink of his coffee. Quentin paused and stared at him for a moment. “I’m kidding, kid.”

“Oh,” Quentin let out a breath of relief, “For a second I thought you were serious.”

“I don’t mind if you come but you’ll have to listen to all my rules and you cannot tell anyone about it,” Tony looked at him, “Understand?”

Quentin nodded, “Of course, sir.”

“We’ll go this weekend, after I fix up some of the problems I see,” Tony nodded.

Quentin grinned, “Cool.”

Tony pushed away from his desk, “You should get us a proper breakfast today. We need more than coffee.”

Quentin looked at him, “You want to….get breakfast with me?”

“Yeah, let’s go,” Tony nodded. He led the way out of the lab while Quentin trailed behind him. He took him downstairs to the main floor of the tower where there was a breakfast shop to get food. Quentin groaned.

“Ugh, we couldn’t have gone like anywhere else?” 

“You better get used to eating from the Stark Industries breakfast shop,” Tony replied, rolling his eyes. Quentin just crossed his arms and stood behind him in line. 

“I eat here all the time. Sometimes I get lunch here.”

“Good, then you’re already familiar with it.”

Quentin groaned and ordered breakfast and they sat down at one of the tables. Tony unwrapped his sandwich and took a bite as he looked around. He hadn’t actually sat down here to eat in a very long time. Usually he ate in his lab, out with Rhodey, or just didn’t eat at all if he was too busy. He glanced back at his intern who was happily inhaling his breakfast. 

“How’s your room?”

“Ah, it’s so nice, Mr. Stark,” Quentin spoke through a mouthful of his food, “It’s bigger than my old place.”

“What kind of place were you living in?”

“I had the orphanage until I turned eighteen,” Quentin nodded, “I had some money left over from my parents to get a little place but...it wasn’t anything special. And I didn’t have anything...I’m really grateful that you gave me a home here…”

“Don’t get so comfortable,” Tony sighed, “You’re just an intern.”

Quentin gave him puppy dog eyes, “You’d kick me back out on the street?”

“You did not just try and pull puppy eyes on me,” Tony shook his head.

“But Mr. Stark…”

“No I wouldn’t, okay? But that doesn’t mean I can’t get rid of you.”

“Oh yeah? How?”

“I’ll just kill you or something.”

Quentin snorted into his food and grinned at him, “I think you’d have a hard time doing that. And not just because you like me so much. I’m hard to kill.”

“Much experience in that area?”

“More than you think.”

Tony looked at him, “I’m seriously worried about you, kid.”

“It was just fights. No knives or guns. Hand to hand. I’m not insane,” Quentin assured him. Tony wondered what exactly the fights were about and how a nerdy kid like Quentin Beck was picking fights.

“And you won?”

“Easily.”

“I suppose I underestimated you a little bit,” Tony replied.

“What?” Quentin asked as he took a bite of his breakfast sandwich, “Some dorks can fight, too.”

“You just referred to yourself as a dork.”

“You know what I mean.”

“I’m not going to let you forget that.”

“Don’t you dare hold that over my head.”

Tony grinned at him and then glanced around as people moved around the main area of the tower. He saw Quentin turn back to his food and he sighed softly. He really did like the kid. He paused when he saw some people enter the tower. They didn’t look like employees or people who would be visiting. 

“Mr. Stark?” Quentin’s voice brought him back to their table. “Is everything alright?”

“Beck...I need you to go up to the lab. Tell Jarvis to lock the screens down and take the wristband and take it to the penthouse, got it?”

Quentin stared at him for a moment and then nodded slightly, “Okay...what’s going on.”

“Don’t look suspicious. Just go up the staff elevator and go fast. Now,” Tony said. Quentin managed another nod and then got up, tossing his breakfast in the garbage as if he was done and then heading to the elevator. Tony could tell he was terrified but he was doing a good job of looking professional. Tony got up after Quentin was out of sight and then headed over to the group of men who had entered, “Can I help you with something?”

He didn’t really pay attention to what the guy said in return to him. It was something about some bullshit company that didn’t exist that was supposed to be looking for potential suppliers. He was too focused on sizing them up. They were pretty big and he wasn’t quite sure if he’d be able to take them. He’d never had to get into a physical fight with anyone for a long time. He could always get weapons, but those were locked away and they could get halfway around the tower by that time. 

“Well, if you’re looking to meet with me, I really only take meetings,” Tony tried to keep his tone lighthearted, “And I don’t think I have any today so, you’ll have to come back another time.”

The men looked at each other for a moment and Tony could sense exactly what was about to happen before it did. He moved quickly and grabbed the wrist of the guy who had pulled out a gun to try and shoot him. The rest of them took off as the gun fired once. 

“Fuck,” he hissed as he saw the other men dash off in different directions. His security team was already responding and going after them. He hit the guy he had in his grip with his free hand and tried to pull the gun out of his hand so he would at least be armed. It didn’t help that they were so close and just after he delivered his punch he got hit as well. This was not going as planned at all. He shifted so he could get a better shot at the guy who was left. He winced in pain when his opponent landed another good hit. He should definitely train for this a little more when he had time. He landed his own punch and then got in the side of the head hard enough that he stumbled to the side. He managed to move enough that the bullet that was shot at him just barely grazed his arm. He breathed out in relief when the security team tackled the guy to the floor. He closed his eyes for a moment before he froze. The rest of the guys were loose in the tower. 

“Mr. Stark, are you alright?” one of the officers asked but Tony wasn’t paying attention to them. He managed a nod and then he was hurrying towards the elevator, his head still aching and his arm stinging.

“Come on, Beck, please tell me you got your ass out of there,” he whispered as he pressed the button to take him to the floor that the lab was on. He rubbed his head as he urged the elevator to move faster. He frowned when it stopped on a different level and the doors opened. His eyes widened when he saw one of the guys from earlier. “Oh shit, going up.”

He hit the close door button as fast as he could and moved out of the way of the line of fire so he wasn’t shot. He punched the guy when he tried to get in the elevator and knocked him back enough that the doors could shut. Tony waited until he got to the level that their lab was on and then he hurried out, running down the hallway to where the lab was. The door was open and there was glass shattering and shouting. He cursed. From what he could see, Quentin was still inside, running around to hide behind tables to avoid getting shot. He had the wristband. Tony let out a breath...that was good but also dangerous for him. They must be after it. There were two guys in the room with him. Tony moved faster but quieter now to try and go unnoticed. He saw Quentin get up and make another dash for the door, sliding behind another desk. There was glass everywhere. Guns fired as soon as he’d stood up and he’d managed to not get hit. Tony hurried towards the back door into the lab and used his key to open it. 

“Beck! Get the fuck out of here,” Tony shouted, drawing the attention to him. Almost as soon as the attention was away from him, Quentin was running for the door again. He let out a breath of relief until he saw one of the guys aim a gun toward his back. He didn’t have much of a choice on what to do next. He ran forward, trying to avoid being shot by the other guy. “Beck get down!”

He watched the gun fire just as Quentin slid to the floor, behind the desk right by the door. Tony lunged at the guy who had tried to kill his intern and tackled him to the ground. There was so much glass everywhere, they were going to get cut up. He knew he couldn’t take these guys, he just had to distract them long enough for Quentin to get out of the room, maybe he could keep it up long enough that the security team would get here. He rolled out of the way of another gunshot and moved to take cover behind a flipped over table. He saw Quentin still at the other desk. He hadn’t moved from there yet. He jerked his head towards the door and the boy nodded at him. Tony waited until he saw Quentin move before he got up as well. Guns went off and Tony just tried to keep moving so he wasn’t an easy target. He grabbed one of them and knocked the gun out of his hand. He could deal with this guy now but he had to watch the other one. 

“Mr. Stark, watch out!” Quentin’s voice carried over to him and he glanced up to where the other guy was aiming at him. He saw the guy’s expression change and Tony frowned as the gun moved from aiming at him, to aiming over his head. He turned and saw Quentin standing back inside the room, the wristband tight around his wrist.

“Beck, don’t-” Tony started but his call was cut off by the noise of the blast that shot out of the band. Tony heard the grunt of surprise when the guy behind him was struck and a crashing which meant that he was out of the picture. His eyes had never left Quentin however, who had also been sent flying backwards, crashing through the glass of the window and hitting the wall on the other side. The boy’s head snapped backwards and he collapsed to the floor in a pile of glass. “Shit, shit, shit.”

Tony got up from where he had been kneeling over the guy who he’d knocked over. He made sure they were both disarmed as he called security to get up here. He ran over to Quentin who hadn’t moved. 

“Hey, kid...come on,” Tony said, moving him out of the glass and to a safer spot on the floor. “You gotta wake up, kid…”

He felt for a pulse and listened for his heartbeat and was glad when he found both. He let out a sigh of relief and watched as the security team went into the lab to take the guys out. They’d gotten everyone else, thankfully. 

“Mr. Stark, if you’d come with us, we’ll get both of you to the medical room…”

Tony nodded slightly and let the security captain take Quentin from him and carry him. On the way down, Tony called Rhodey and told him about what happened. His friend told him he would be coming down to check in. He let the doctors check him out and then bandage the wound on his arm. “How’s the kid?”

“Nothing’s broken which is good. He has a concussion and plenty of cuts from the glass but he’ll be alright,” the doctor replied. Tony nodded slightly and went outside the room to find Rhodey already there.

“You alright?”

“Yeah,” Tony nodded slightly, “Since when do people think they can rob Stark Industries?”

“I don’t know,” Rhodey sighed, “How’s the kid?”

“He’s not awake yet…”

“Is he going to be okay?”

“That’s what the doctors say.”

Rhodey nodded, “Hey, this isn’t your fault.”

“I told him to go back up here,” Tony shook his head, “I sent him exactly where they wanted to go. He could’ve been killed...he almost was killed.”

“Tony…”

“He used my tech. The one that isn’t ready yet and it shot him backwards through a window and into the wall,” Tony looked at him, “He’s eighteen, Rhodey. I’m shocked he’s not dead right now.”

“This is not your fault.”

Tony shook his head again, “He’s my responsibility. I brought him here. He’s living here. If he gets hurt here, that’s on me. If he dies here, that’s on me.”

Rhodey sighed, “You’re too hard on yourself.”

Tony just stood up and paced, “This can’t happen again. I need a stronger security team...better weapons. More access to said weapons…”

Rhodey gave him a small smile, “You both made it out alive. That’s what matters right now. So focus on that. Plan later.”

Tony sighed and sat back down next to him, running his hand through his hair, “I’m just not ready to do all of this.”

“I know,” Rhodey nodded, “But you have to. And you’ll always have my help if you need.”

“I know. Thanks for coming by,” Tony nodded.

“Anytime,” Rhodey nodded, “Now, go check on your intern.”

Tony nodded. He said goodbye to his friend and then headed back into the medical room. He sat down in the chair next to Quentin’s bed. The boy turned to look at him and managed a small, pained smile.

“Did we win?”

“Yeah,” Tony looked at him, “That was incredibly stupid.”

“But we won.”

“Listen, you,” Tony glared at him, “You aren’t doing anything like that again, got it? That tech was not ready to be used by anyone at all, and especially not you. You could’ve gotten yourself killed.”

“I shot him,” Quentin pointed out.

“Oh, you saw that while you were being slammed into a wall that had been thirty feet behind you?”

Quentin shifted slightly on the bed and winced, “I just...wanted to help you.”

“Then think of a different way that doesn’t involve you almost dying in the process,” Tony huffed, “That’s never happening again, got it?”

“I think I know what’s wrong with it,” Quentin said softly, “The beam shoots from above the wrist. There’s nothing to stop it...what if you put it on your-”

“Are you really critiquing the tech while laying in a hospital bed?” Tony stared at him. 

“I was just saying…”

“No, no. You’re not saying anything. You are done. No work until your concussion is gone. You’ll spend your time in your room, resting. Got it?”

“But Mr. Stark…”

“End of discussion.”

Quentin huffed and closed his eyes, pushing his head slightly back into the pillow, “Fine.”

“Good. Glad we understand each other,” Tony nodded. “You hurting?”

“Yeah, my head hurts a lot and I feel dizzy,” Quentin mumbled.

“Don’t move a lot,” Tony replied softly, “And listen to the doctors.”

“But I want to work,” Quentin groaned.

“Yeah, and I’m telling you no, so listen to your boss.”

“Can I at least have something to do?”

Tony sighed and thought for a moment. He looked at Quentin who was looking at him with one eye closed, “Well, the recovery period for a concussion is long so...by the time you are fully recovered, you’ll have a full time position at Stark Industries. I suggest you start brainstorming what you want your first project to be.”

Both of Quentin’s eyes flew open and he stared at him, “Really? I...I got the job?”

“You got the job,” Tony held out his hand, “Welcome to Stark Industries, Beck.”

Quentin grinned widely and shook his hand, “Thank you, Mr. Stark.”

Tony nodded slightly, “Now seriously. Get some rest. I can’t have a half-assed performance when you get back.”

“Yes, sir,” Quentin nodded slightly and closed his eyes, “Thank you.”

Tony watched as the boy shifted and then relaxed. He got up and headed out of the medical room. He and Quentin would work together. They’d be a good team. He had a feeling they’d be advancing a lot quicker than before. He paused at the door, “Hey kid?”

“Yeah?”

“You did a good job out there today,” Tony said quietly.

“Thank you, sir,” Quentin said softly. 

Tony nodded slightly, “I’ll see you in a little while.”

“You’re not going to come visit me?”

“Absolutely not.”

Quentin laughed softly, “Goodnight Mr. Stark.”

“Goodnight, kid.”


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Once Quentin had fully recovered from his concussion, Tony allowed him back into the lab. He’d made sure to get him all his official key cards and ID since he would be a full time employee here. The kid was ecstatic about everything and they’d started working together more on new technology. Tony did find the kid’s company to be rather nice and they worked well when they were both focused on the project. Most of the time their conversations were just about the project but occasionally their conversations would turn into stupid little arguments. It was fun to argue with someone who could somewhat match him. Tony liked the challenges that Quentin gave him. Except for the part where the kid followed him around all the time. Tony had to verbally tell him not to come with him to certain meetings or to literally go to bed unless he wanted him following him the entire day. He did respect Quentin more since he’d started working with him and not for him. The boy understood the difference and was a little more vocal with his thoughts and opinions. 

“Hey...Mr. Stark…”

Tony looked up at the door where Quentin was standing, leaning against the frame and frowning slightly. “Yeah, what’s up, kid?”

“I...was on my way out,” Quentin nodded, “Aren’t you gonna go home for the holidays?”

Tony shrugged and then paused. He had to answer this correctly or he’d have a guest with him, “Yeah, I have to finish up this last part here and then I’m leaving too.”

“Oh, alright,” Quentin nodded, “That’s...good.”

Tony looked at him and then sighed. He’d answered the question completely wrong. Of course Quentin didn’t want him to leave, the kid lived here. He was ninety percent sure that the boy didn’t want to be here by himself for a week without anyone he knew. “Actually, I hadn’t planned on it.”

“What? Why not?”

“I don’t really have anyone to celebrate the holidays with,” Tony admitted.

Quentin ducked his head, “Right…”

Tony sighed and ran a hand over his face, “Come on in.”

Quentin set his backpack down and hurried into the lab, shutting the door behind him, “What’re we working on?”

“Nothing, we’re just going to clean up,” Tony nodded, “I’ve been done for a while.”

“Okay,” Quentin nodded. They cleaned up silently for a little while. Tony didn’t really want to talk too much. He was just planning on drinking by himself. He should’ve known better. Well, maybe Quentin would be able to get him to stop at some point. “It was today, wasn’t it…?”

Tony looked over at the boy who was looking over at him while they cleaned up, “What?”

“When they….you know…,” Quentin lowered his head, “Your parents.”

Tony frowned, “We aren’t talking about that.”

“Have you ever actually talked about that with anyone?” Quentin asked quietly.

“Have you?” Tony turned to look at him. 

“I...no…,” Quentin whispered. Tony sighed softly and glanced away as well. Talking about his parents was a touchy subject and he knew Quentin hadn’t meant any harm in asking, he just didn’t like thinking about it. Of course, it was all that was on his mind today so that had just pushed him a little further over the edge.

“Then you can’t tell me that I should.”

“I don’t want to feel like I’m whining,” Quentin said quietly, “I’ve never had anyone listen to me.”

“You need to stop doing that, kid.”

“What?”

“Making me feel bad for you,” Tony sighed and sat down on the couch. Quentin ran a hand through his hair.

“Oh...I’m sorry…”

“Just come and sit down, will you?”

Quentin dropped into the seat next to him and sighed quietly, “What happened to your parents was really awful...I’m really sorry…”

“Thanks, kid,” Tony sighed. They sat quietly for a few minutes. “You really want me to talk to you about this, right?”

“I won’t feel as bad if I’m not the only one crying,” Quentin admitted.

Tony managed a quiet laugh and shook his head, “I’m not going to cry over it, I’ve done enough of that.”

Quentin went silent and sighed softly, “Oh…”

“My dad wasn’t always the best dad,” Tony replied, “Actually, most of the time he wasn’t the best dad. I still loved him, I don’t like to admit that I did, but I did.”

“Of course you did, he’s your dad…,” Quentin shrugged.

“I didn’t deal with it well….I haven’t been dealing with it well,” Tony ran a hand through his hair and leaned back on the couch, “But it’ll go away eventually…”

“It won’t,” Quentin said quietly, “I don’t think it ever does.”

“Why do you think that?”

“They’re family,” Quentin replied, “I can’t ever forget my family…the pain might go away, but you’ll remember.”

Tony sighed, “So, yeah, the holidays are a rough time of the year for me.”

Quentin was quiet for a few moments, “I’m sorry, Mr. Stark…”

“Come on, kid, don’t get all teary eyed,” Tony rolled his eyes, “Don’t cry over me.”

“Sorry,” Quentin took a breath, “I’m sorry.”

Tony glanced away from him and then poured himself a drink, “I don’t want anyone’s pity anymore. I’m tired of everyone always looking at me like that anyway.”

“Like what?” Quentin glanced over at him.

“Like that,” Tony nodded at him, “I don’t want all that attention. I don’t want people asking me if I’m okay or whatever.”

“I won’t ask if you’re okay,” Quentin nodded.

“Good. Glad that’s understood,” Tony hummed as he took a sip of his drink. It was quiet between them for a little while. He didn’t know what he expected. It wasn’t like he could make a joke or tease the kid right now. He was pretty sure if he even said something mildly sarcastic the boy would burst into tears and he definitely did not want to deal with that. 

“When I was ten, I lost my parents,” Quentin said quietly, “They got in a car accident, too...on Christmas. We were all going to a party that one of their friends was having and...I don’t know why I’m alive but…”

Tony looked at him. He didn’t know that part. There had been nothing about Quentin being in the car accident as well.

Quentin nodded, “I was in the hospital for a long time and then when I was finally okay to go, they told me I’d be going to an orphanage instead of back home…”

“I’m sorry, kid.”

“I don’t really like the holidays that much either,” Quentin admitted.

“I wouldn’t if I was you, either,” Tony said quietly. 

“I don’t like being alone,” Quentin ducked his head, “I know I’ll have to be someday, but the thought of not having anyone else around bothers me...I think it’s just because of the orphanage but still…”

“It’s okay,” Tony sighed, “Like I said, you can stay here.”

Quentin nodded, “I was really hoping you wouldn’t be going anywhere because….I don’t really know many people here.”

“Don’t worry about it, I’m staying,” Tony replied. “We can work all day on Christmas if you want to.”

Quentin laughed softly and Tony saw him discreetly wipe his face, “Yeah...okay, I’d like that…”

Tony nodded, “Alright.”

Quentin glanced at him, “Can I have a drink?”

“Absolutely not.”

“I...what?” Quentin looked at him in surprise, “You bought me a drink the first time we met.”

“I cause trouble at parties,” Tony shrugged, “You still got two more years, kid.”

Quentin sighed, “Yeah, but if you don’t tell anyone, I could drink now.”

“Yeah, but I’ll tell someone,” Tony got up and took the bottle of alcohol with him. “Now, are we working this entire holiday or what?”

Quentin smiled slightly and got off the couch, “Yeah, we are.”

..

The holiday week passed relatively slowly. Tony just worked with Quentin the entire time and they occasionally took a break to watch the snow outside and laugh at the people getting their cars stuck in it. The tower was relatively warm and they did get a lot of work done. Somehow, on Christmas Eve, they’d ended up sleeping at a somewhat reasonable time and waking up early on Christmas morning. Tony slowly got up and immediately froze. Why was it so incredibly cold in here? He grabbed a warmer shirt and pants before heading out of his room. He noticed the lights immediately. They were all turned off and he groaned. Had they really lost power? The backup generators should be turned on. He hurried down the steps to the basement and tried to navigate around but it was almost impossible in the dark and his flashlight wasn’t helping a ton. He found the generators and tried to get them started but they weren’t working either. He cursed quietly. He’d have to get people down here to fix them after the power came back on and he could actually call someone. He headed back up all the steps and was sweating by the time he got back up to the level with their rooms on it. This was ridiculous. He was definitely going to have to figure out a plan for this. He looked out the window and groaned. The roads were covered in snow and traffic was backed up as far as he could see. They wouldn’t get anywhere. He just headed up to the penthouse and decided he could start a fire in the fireplace up there. He got the fire started and then pulled his blankets over beside it. They would just have to wait it out. He sighed and shivered again, moving closer to the fire. It definitely was helping him. Once he was slightly warmer, he got up to get some of the food that was kept up in the penthouse. He set some cereal and cookies that he’d gotten from multiple employees on the pile of blankets by the fire and was just about to sit down when he heard heavy footsteps coming up the steps. He turned around to see Quentin making his way up the steps, wrapped in a blanket. He was shivering and sniffling. He must not have been in warm pajamas last night.

“Mr. St-Stark….,” Quentin managed, “I don’t f-feel so good….”

Tony frowned and went over to him, putting his arm around him and leading him over to the fire, “Come on, come sit down...the power went out and the backup generators aren’t working...we’re just going to have to hang out here until we can either get out of here or the electric company can come fix it.”

“C-Can’t we fix it?” Quentin asked as he sat down.

“It’s about a million times colder in the basement,” Tony replied, “If you want to, be my guest, but I prefer not getting hypothermia.”

“I already have it,” Quentin said, rolling over into the blankets. 

“You are the biggest drama queen.”

“I’m not being dramatic.”

“You might get a little cold from this,” Tony rolled his eyes, “You did not get hypothermia.”

“Just wait,” Quentin huffed, “When I die, you’ll regret not believing me.”

Tony shook his head, “You’re not dying.”

“Besides, you’re a drama queen.”

“Oh yeah? Why’s that?”

“You just are. You always make an entrance at parties,” Quentin replied, “‘Woo, I’m Tony Stark, Woo…’”

Tony snorted, “Is that your impression of me?”

“Yeah, it’s good isn’t it?”

“Spot on.”

Quentin nodded and pulled the blanket up further around him, “I practice a lot.”

“When you should be working with me?”

Quentin shook his head, “Nah, when I had free time.”

“You’re a weird kid.”

“You’re a weird guy.”

“Are you hungry?” Tony asked him, “I have some food here. Sadly it’s not warm.”

“That’s okay,” Quentin mumbled. He got up and examined the food that was there for them before starting to eat a little.

“Do you feel any better?”

“No, I’m going to get sick,” Quentin sighed, rubbing his eyes and then covering his mouth and nose as he sneezed. “See!?”

“Then you can’t work with me.”

“What? Why not?” Quentin frowned.

“Because I don’t need to get sick as well,” Tony pointed out, “This company can’t run without me, so I can’t miss a day…”

“Woo, I’m Tony Stark,” Quentin rolled his eyes, “The company can’t run without me, woo.”

“Can you stop doing that?”

“No, it’s my new favorite thing and it’s even better because it gets on your nerves.”

Tony sighed, “Why did I hire you again?”

“Because I’m smart.”

“Definitely not your personality.”

Quentin managed a small smile as he continued eating. The fire must be making him feel a little better. Tony definitely hadn’t been planning on spending his Christmas like this. Of all the ways he could’ve spent it, sitting with his lab partner in front of a fire, eating peanut butter crackers and dry cereal was not one he’d thought of. The water bottles in the fridge had frozen so he had set a couple in front of the fire to melt them so they could have something to drink as well. 

“Hey, kid…,” Tony glanced at him.

“Yeah?” Quentin asked, looking over to meet his eyes.

“I got you something small for Christmas...when we were talking the other day, I realized you probably hadn’t actually gotten anything from someone for a while so…,” Tony sighed, “I had it ordered in.”

“You...you did?” Quentin looked at him.

“Yeah,” Tony nodded slightly, “Do you want it now?”

“Yeah!” Quentin nodded, “Please.”

Tony got up and went over to get the package from the counter. It was out of sight unless you knew where it was and since Quentin didn’t come up here, Tony had known it was fine to keep it there until Christmas. “Alright, but open it slowly.”

Quentin smiled and nodded before carefully opening the package. He looked at Tony in surprise, “I really get one?”

“You really do.”

Quentin grinned and slowly unfolded the Stark Industries jacket that had been folded in the box. “This is so cool…”

Tony laughed softly, “You had to have known it was coming at some point.”

“I forgot about it, actually,” Quentin admitted, “But it’s the most comfortable thing in the world. I remember that from when I tried yours on.”

“Yeah and it didn’t fit you because you’re taller than me,” Tony used the wrapping of the box to continue feeding the fire.

“That’s true,” Quentin pulled the jacket on his shoulders, “Thank you, Mr. Stark.”

“No problem, kid. Now, don’t think this is a yearly thing or anything,” Tony eyed him, “It was a one time deal.”

“Of course,” Quentin nodded. “I wish I’d gotten you something. I wanted to buy you like something you’d like but I didn’t really know….and anything I make isn’t going to be that cool and I just didn’t have enough time, I’m really sorry….”

“Don’t worry about it,” Tony rolled his eyes, “I got a million cookies from people this year, if you’d made me cookies I would’ve handed them right back to you.”

Quentin laughed softly and took one of the cookies, “Hey, these are good. You should enjoy them.”

“I am enjoying them, but I don’t need more.”

“I’ll get you something next year.”

“Don’t you dare.”

“Too bad, I’m going to.” Quentin grinned at him and Tony just shook his head.

“What am I supposed to do with you, huh?”

“Tolerate me.”

“That’s asking a lot.”

“I tolerate you.”

“You mock me.”

Quentin laughed and grabbed another cookie, “I only do that one impression of you.”

“It’s not even an impression, it’s just you being stupid.”

“It’s very accurate.”

Tony shook his head again and took a drink from one of the half-frozen water bottles. They relaxed for a while, Quentin bundled up in his new jacket and the blankets, Tony wrapped in a few blankets as well in front of the fire. It wasn’t bad, taking a break from all the work. Usually, when Tony took a break from work, he just ended up being alone but now since Quentin had shown up, he had someone to talk to when he needed. He used to use Pepper and Rhodey as that person, but they couldn’t always be around and they would give him solutions to his problems and tell him to stop drinking. Quentin had done that, but he’d also just let Tony vent about everything or just talk about whatever he wanted and Tony did the same for him. Maybe that was why he felt like he trusted the kid. They’d both been through a lot, they could relate to each other through their pain.

“You know, I think if I got glasses, I would look incredible like you,” Quentin pointed out.

“I think you’re out of your mind,” Tony replied, “Why would you want to look like me?”

“I’m just saying,” Quentin was studying him, “I think I could pull off a pretty convincing Tony Stark.”

“Yeah, right,” Tony shook his head. 

Quentin reached over and grabbed Tony’s glasses and slid them on. He blinked a few times and then waved his hands a little, “Wooo...I’m Tony Stark….everyone pay attention to me, wooo.”

“Oh stop it,” Tony took his glasses back and set them aside, “That was terrible.”

Quentin grinned at him, “It was funny.”

Tony shook his head, “Absolutely not.” He gave the boy a small smile as he moved some of their food out of the way. Quentin grinned back at him and then went to warm his hands by the fire again. 

“Are we going to be here all day?”

“Probably…”

Quentin sighed softly, “Boring.”

“I know.”

As if on cue, there was a humming noise and then all the lights flickered back on and the appliances started working again. Tony looked around in surprise. 

“The backup generators are now online, sir,” Jarvis’ voice was heard.

“How did that happen?” Tony frowned.

“The power has been out for a long enough time that they automatically kicked in.”

“Thanks Jarvis,” Tony sighed, “That’s definitely a relief.”

“Of course, sir. Is there anything else you need?”

“Just keep an eye on everything and make sure those generators stay on.”

“As you wish, sir.”

Quentin let out a sigh as heat flooded the room, “Thank god…”

Tony nodded, “Let’s make some warm food.”

“That sounds amazing. What time is it?”

“Hey Jarvis, what time is it?”

“It is currently four in the afternoon.”

Tony nodded, “Alright. Then dinner time it is.”

Quentin got up and adjusted his jacket, “Can we make like...soup?”

“Yeah,” Tony agreed, “Definitely soup.”

They got to work making some of the canned soup in the cabinets. Tony was hoping that with the warmth and the soup, Quentin wouldn’t get too sick and he’d have his work partner sooner rather than later. They sat down at the table while they ate their dinner.

“Today has been kind of weird,” Tony said, “This is not how I expected to spend today.”

“Me neither,” Quentin sighed softly, “But this has probably been one of my best Christmases since I was ten.”

Tony gave him a sad smile, “I’m sorry, kid…”

“It’s okay,” Quentin continued to eat, “Thanks for staying here with me…”

“What else was I going to do?”

“Go back to your actual home that has heat all the time?”

“And leave a nineteen year old kid to spend Christmas by himself in a tower with over a hundred floors?”

Quentin ducked his head, “I guess.”

Tony shook his head, “I’ve spent my fair share of holidays by myself too. I’m not going to make you do the same.”

Quentin looked up at him and gave him a small smile.

“Don’t do that.”

“What?”

“Don’t start crying again.”

“I wasn’t!”

“You’re close, I can tell.”

“But what you said was so nice,” Quentin put a hand over his heart, “Maybe you really do have a heart.”

“I’m going to dump your entire bowl of soup over your head.”

“Do it. I dare you.”

“It’ll make a mess and I don’t feel like cleaning it up.”

Quentin laughed softly, “No, but seriously, Mr. Stark...thank you for everything. For staying and for the jacket…”

“No problem, Quentin.”

Quentin nodded slightly and continued eating, “Oh...hey, Mr. Stark…?”

“What is it?” Tony got up to clean up his dishes.

“Uh…Merry Christmas,” Quentin said softly. Tony turned to look at him. The boy was giving him a small smile from the table. He wasn’t sure why this had thrown him off. He was told that so many times by so many people. It wasn’t any different. He refocused and ran a hand through his hair.

“Yeah...Merry Christmas to you, too,” he said softly. Quentin smiled at him and finished eating.

“I guess we can go back to work then, huh?”

“Actually…,” Tony looked at him, “If you want...we could just...not work today. It is Christmas after all.”

“What’re we going to do?”

“I...I don’t know, but we can figure out something to do.”

Quentin nodded slightly, “Okay.”

Tony gave him a small smile, “As long as you stop doing that ridiculous impression.”

“In your dreams, Mr. Stark,” Quentin grinned back at him before sitting down on the couch and turning the television on, “Let’s watch really terrible Christmas specials.”

Tony rolled his eyes and sat down with him, “This is the last time I let you pick what we’re doing.”

Quentin laughed and started flicking through the channels. Tony watched him for a moment before turning to the television. He’d done this with his mom when he was a kid and he’d always been so excited by it. He couldn’t help but see himself a little in Quentin Beck. He really hoped that the boy wouldn’t turn out like him. He could be better. He leaned back on the couch and let his lab partner pick out what exactly they would spend the rest of their Christmas watching. And it was one of the best Christmases he’d had in a very long time.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

After the holidays, things returned to normal as much as they could. Work was back to normal with no more terrible power outages. Tony made sure to take steps to fix the problems with the backup generators and get them to kick in instantly. He was angry that someone hadn’t dealt with that before. He moved the focus of his side projects from his own personal use to fixing up the tower to make it better. There were plenty of tasks to focus on with that and since he had a perfectly competent worker at his disposable, he sent Quentin to supervise the building projects. The younger man was eager to help and Tony felt better having someone that he trusted for the most part, keeping an eye on the workers. He had his task force focusing on the next line of weapons that they’d be selling out once they were tested. Everything was running smoothly and that was all Tony could ask for. He didn’t need anymore problems like those guys from before. He wasn’t exactly prepared for the notice that he got about having to travel to meet up with some of the U.S military generals about the next wave of technology Stark Industries was producing, but he agreed to it immediately. He got a flight out of New York a few days later and landed in D.C. He stepped off the plane and glanced around, looking for the people who were going to drive them to the hotel. 

“Oh my god...we’re actually in D.C,” Tony almost rolled his eyes when he heard the voice from behind him, “I can’t believe we’re actually here.”

“Remember what I said?”

“Right, sorry, sir,” Quentin replied. Tony nodded at him as they walked through the airport and outside to the pickup area. He’d brought Quentin since the boy was working alongside him now and he decided it would be good experience for him. However, Quentin had talked his ear off for the entire flight about how excited he was to go to D.C. Tony eventually had to make a rule that he was only allowed to talk when Tony talked to him first or he’d find a spot on the first flight back to New York and put him on it. 

“Mr. Stark?” a man came up to him, “We’re here to take you to your hotel. You’ll meet with the generals tomorrow.”

“That’s me,” Tony nodded, shaking the man’s hand, “This is Mr. Beck, he’s working with me.”

Quentin shook the guy’s hand as well and then followed him into the car. Tony relaxed in the car, thankful that they were heading to the hotel. He definitely needed some sort of separation from Quentin before the kid drove him nuts. The car ride was rather short, only about a half hour once they got out of the airport. 

“We’ll send a driver for you tomorrow at ten am,” the man said as they got out of the car and Tony thought for a moment.

“Make it eleven,” he nodded.

“The appointment is already set,” the man frowned.

“Yeah, and I’m changing it. Eleven works better for me. We can talk over lunch,” Tony nodded, “See you at eleven.”

He waved to them before he gestured for Quentin to follow him into the hotel. He checked in quickly at the desk and they went to the elevator. 

“I have a question.”

“If it’s about tourist activities, the answer is no.”

“Can you really make the generals of the military reschedule the meeting?”

“Yes, I really can.”

Quentin stared at him, “That’s incredible…”

Tony snorted and shook his head. They got up to the hotel room and went inside. The room was big with two beds. Quentin tossed his stuff over on the bed by the window.

“This is a crazy hotel room…”

“Ah, it’s average,” Tony shrugged, “No alcohol.”

“Of course,” Quentin rolled his eyes, “That’s what makes it average.”

“How about you go get some sleep so you don’t fall asleep in our meeting tomorrow?”

“It’s like six.”

“So?”

“I’m not going to bed.”

“Well what’re you doing for the rest of the night?”

“I’m going to go out,” Quentin shrugged. 

“Alright, have fun,” Tony nodded.

“You don’t want to come?”

“Not really. I’ve been here before.”

Quentin shrugged and then headed for the door, “Okay, see you tonight.”

“See you,” Tony waved him out and waited until the door shut to relax. He ordered room service and ate dinner by himself before going to the shower. He cleaned up and took an extra long time, just enjoying being on his own for a while without his partner. He changed into pajamas and then opened the door, heading back to the bed area. He heard the door open behind him and glanced over to see Quentin returning from whatever trek he’d been on. “Back already?”

“I’ve been gone for like two and a half hours.”

“You going to shower tonight or look like a mess tomorrow?”

“I’m sure you’ve looked less than presentable for some meetings,” Quentin countered.

“Get your ass in the shower.”

Quentin made a face before grabbing pajamas and going to the bathroom, “If you used all the hot water, I’m suing you.”

“Uh huh, enjoy,” Tony replied. The door to the bathroom shut and Tony went back to looking over his papers for the meeting tomorrow. He figured it would go relatively well. They’d get an agreement and a lot of money. He smiled to himself and set the papers aside. He made sure he had all the information on what he was presenting tomorrow and then packed it up in his briefcase. By the time he was done organizing, Quentin was back, heading to his bed and crashing down on it. “Tired?”

“Excited,” Quentin smiled at him before getting under the covers and rolling over. Tony sighed and reached to turn the lights off. He stared up at the ceiling and sighed. He wished he’d gotten something to drink while Quentin was out so it would be easier to sleep but he would just have to deal with it now. The boy had made it very clear that he didn’t like when Tony got drunk around him and as much as Tony didn’t care about what Quentin thought about him, he did his best not to. He knew it kind of freaked the kid out a little. 

..

The next morning, Tony had a rude awakening when the sun was shining on his face. He groaned and rolled over. He glanced at the clock and saw it was eight thirty. He sighed and slowly sat up, looking around. Quentin was already out of bed and changed. He was the reason the curtains were open.

“Did you really have to open those?” he asked, wincing from the bright light.

“Yeah, I wanted to look out,” Quentin nodded, “Besides, you gotta get up anyway.”

“I don’t have to do anything you say.”

“We have to be ready to go by ten-thirty.”

“I don’t need two hours to get ready.”

“I was thinking we could get breakfast downstairs,” Quentin nodded. Tony sighed and got up, going to change clothes and get ready. A half hour later, they were headed down to get breakfast, both dressed up in black suits. Tony sat down with Quentin at one of the small tables and they ate together.

“Alright, here’s the deal,” Tony looked at him, “You don’t talk unless they specifically address you.”

“Okay,” Quentin nodded slightly.

“And if you do, try and get it back to me,” Tony continued.

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. Don’t break those rules.”

Quentin nodded and continued eating, “Okay.”

Tony nodded at him and they finished up. They still had a little before the car came to pick them up but they just went outside to wait anyway. 

“I really can’t say anything?”

“Nope.”

Quentin sighed but followed him into the car when it came. They sat quietly and Tony was glad that they weren’t going to be on a long trip. They were driven to the base and given passes so they could get in and not be arrested for being on the base. Tony sat outside the office with Quentin until it was time for their meeting and then he led the way inside.

“Mr. Stark, it’s good to see you again,” the general was standing up from his seat and shook his hand, “You’ve brought someone with you, this time?”

Tony nodded slightly after shaking his hand, “This is Mr. Beck, he and I have been working together for a while now. He’s rather new so he’s just here more or less to observe.”

“Mr. Beck,” the general shook Quentin’s hand as well. “Alright, well, Stark, what’ve you got for us now?”

Tony followed him to the table and made sure Quentin sat down before doing the same and opening his case, “I believe these might be what you’re looking for.”

The general took the papers that Tony handed him and began to look through them while Tony gave him a brief explanation on each one. He could already tell they were interested, and why shouldn’t they be? What Tony was offering was good and they would need it. There was no reason for them to say no. 

“When are you planning on having these finished?”

“They’re being run through their first round of testing next week,” Tony nodded, “They’re close.”

“That’s good.”

Tony nodded, “What do you think?”

“I think we’ll be contacting you very soon. I’ll send a few of my men to your testing and we’ll go from there.”

Tony smiled slightly at him, “That’ll work for me. You can send your order in afterwards.”

The general nodded, “Good,” and then he did what Tony was hoping he wouldn’t do. He turned to Quentin, “How old are you, Mr. Beck?”

Quentin looked somewhat caught by surprise by the question but quickly composed himself. “I’m not sure what that has to do with whether you’re interested in buying from us, sir.”

Tony gave Quentin a small smile and then turned to the general, “My partner has a point. He’s young, but he’s definitely not stupid. Let’s finish the task at hand, shall we?”

“We’ll consider our orders after the testing,” the general stood up, “I like what you’ve brought me, Stark. It better work out well.”

“Oh, it will,” Tony got up as well and he saw Quentin stand up to join them. They left the room together and headed back towards the parking lot where their ride was. The base was busy as usual but Tony had a weird feeling about it. He glanced around and just barely noticed someone slip out of sight as he turned in that direction. He sighed softly and continued walking, “Beck.”

“Yes sir?”

“Take my case, please. And take the next left up here. As soon as you can’t see me anymore, run to the car.”

Quentin looked at him, “What?”

“Just trust me.”

“Okay…,” Quentin took the case from him and then turned off in the other direction. Tony continued walking and let out a breath. He just couldn’t do anything without getting in trouble with someone. He just hoped that he could get to the car and they could get out of here before anything truly bad happened. He hurried to the car and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Quentin was coming from around the other way. Whoever was following them must’ve lost them or gotten confused. He gestured at Quentin to hurry up and then glanced around before he heard the shout. He heard pounding footsteps on the pavement before he was grabbed and pulled backwards just as the car in front of them exploded. 

“The hell….”

“Mr. Stark?” Quentin was shaking him gently, his eyes wide and covered in dust. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine...just...what is going on?”

“We gotta get out of here,” Quentin insisted, “The car just blew up.”

“Yeah, I got that,” Tony managed to push Quentin off of him so he could get up. “How do we get out of here?”

“Uh. I don’t know,” Quentin admitted.

“Did you jump on me?”

“Yeah…”

“Okay, we’re having a talk later.”

“Don’t you think that we shouldn’t worry about that right now?”

Tony stood up and looked around. People were running over to them to make sure they were okay. “Do you have the case?”

Quentin looked at him and then glanced back behind him, “I...I dropped it when I saw the car was going to blow up…”

“How’d you see that?” Tony looked at him.

“There was a guy down that way…,” Quentin pointed.

Tony headed in the direction that he’d seen Quentin come from and cursed, “Fucking hell, kid…”

Quentin looked at him, “What?”

“Do you see it anywhere?”

Quentin glanced around then quietly shook his head, “No, sir…”

“You know what’s in there, right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What was in there?”

“Blueprints and descriptions of the weapons that we’re making.”

“You know I gave it to you to look after specifically so no one else got their hands on it, right?”

“Yes, sir,” Quentin said quietly, ducking his head.

Tony took a breath and ran a hand through his hair. He turned to one of the officers, “You need to have every man on your base keeping an eye out for that case. Otherwise, you’re going to have a war on your hands much quicker than you want.”

The soldier nodded and hurried off to make the announcement. Another man approached them and told him that there were orders to take him to a safe house until they would drive him to the airport. He took Quentin’s arm and pulled the boy along after the soldier. When they got inside, he sat down and glanced at Quentin.

“Sit down.”

The boy sat across from him and glanced away.

“As much as you want to play hero, kid, you really fucked it up this time.”

Quentin ran a hand through his hair, “I wasn’t trying to play hero…”

“You jumped on me to shield me from an exploding car.”

“And you’re alive, right?”

“And the case is gone. A lot more people could die because of that.”

Quentin let out a slow breath, “I’m sorry, Mr. Stark.”

“Just, be quiet,” Tony sighed. He leaned back in his seat and set a hand over his eyes, closing them to try and relax. His heart was beating a mile a minute. So much had just happened and he needed a minute to process it. He knew Quentin had meant well, he always did. But he just couldn’t afford mistakes like that. Tony didn’t value his life over letting his stuff get into the wrong hands. “You’re off the team for a month.”

“What?” Quentin looked at him.

“You aren’t allowed in the lab for a month starting once we get back,” Tony replied.

“But...you can’t actually do that, can you?”

“Seeing as I’m your boss, yes, I can.”

“But Mr. Stark…”

“If you complain, it’ll be longer.”

Quentin took a breath like he was about to say something but then sighed and sat back on the couch. Tony nodded slightly at him and then called Pepper.

“Tony?”

“Hey Pepper,” Tony sighed, “We’re on a little bit of a lockdown right now.”

“What’s going on?”

“Our car got bombed. It’s fine, we’re fine, but we have to wait to get another ride to the airport. Oh, and Beck lost all of our files on the weapons so make sure they were all backed up on the database.”

“You don’t have to TELL everyone,” Quentin pouted.

“Oh, I do,” Tony replied to him, “Quiet, the adults are talking.”

“I AM an adult.”

Tony just put his finger to his lips.

“You sound like you’re having fun,” Pepper replied.

“Absolutely not.”

“You both are safe?”

“For now, yes.”

“Okay, I’ll check your files for you. Stay safe, Tony.”

Tony sighed and hung up, shaking his head. This was a mess. They were given food at some point while they waited but neither of them ate much. It got closer to the evening when the general arrived. 

“Good news and bad news,” he said as he shut the door. He held up Tony’s case, “We caught the guy who had this and it’s still full of everything you showed me earlier.”

Tony let out a breath and got up, “Thank god…”

“What’s the bad news?” Quentin asked softly.

“We went back to your hotel to get your stuff so we could take you to the airport right away,” the general nodded, “Your room was ransacked. I don’t know if you’d left anything there…”

“Everything of major importance is with us,” Tony nodded, glancing at Quentin who nodded his head. He let out a breath. If the kid had left something back at the hotel that was important he probably would’ve thrown himself off a cliff. “When can we head out?”

“We’ll have a new car for you in about an hour,” the general nodded, “There will be a few others driving with you that will split off in different directions to hopefully draw away anyone who wants to follow.”

Tony nodded, “Thanks. We’ll be ready to go.”

The general left the room and Tony opened the case to make sure that everything was in there that had been originally. He let out a breath of relief when it was all there.

“Does this mean I’m not grounded?” Quentin asked as he peeked over Tony’s shoulder.

“Oh, no, you’re still definitely grounded.”

Quentin sighed, “We’re going back soon, right?”

“Yeah,” Tony shut his case and set it down by the rest of their stuff, “Thankfully.”

Quentin nodded in agreement. They hung out for a while longer and then were escorted by a team to the car. The trip home was quiet for the most part. Tony was somewhat relieved when Quentin fell asleep on the plane. He didn’t want to talk that much and he didn’t want to think about the fact that the kid had jumped on him to save his life without even thinking of himself first. 

..

When they got back to Stark Tower, it was very late or very early. Quentin had nodded off in the car on their trip and was still yawning as they walked back inside. Tony was exhausted as well, but he was quite sure he wouldn’t be sleeping well. He sent Quentin off to his room and then went up to the penthouse. He poured himself a glass of whiskey and sighed, settling down on the couch. He closed his eyes for just a second and tried to relax. He had never had this much stress. He really was not ready for this job. 

“Are you alright, Tony?” he heard Pepper’s voice and he nodded.

“It’s been a stressful twenty-four hours,” Tony hummed as he took a sip of his drink, “How’s Beck?”

“Asleep,” Pepper nodded, “I had him turn in his ID cards and keys to the lab like you asked.”

“Thank you,” Tony sighed.

“You’re a little hard on him.”

“I have to be,” Tony replied, “What he did yesterday was ridiculous and stupid.”

“He tried to save your life.”

“And he let an unknown enemy get their hands on blueprints for plenty of weapons.”

“I’m not saying he didn’t screw up,” Pepper shook her head, “But don’t be angry at him for trying to save your life.”

“I don’t want another Captain America in my life,” Tony shook his head, “I had enough of him when my father was around. I don’t want anything to do with people who think they’re heroes.”

“I don’t think he was trying to be a hero,” Pepper laughed softly, “Or else he would be bragging about how he ‘saved Tony Stark’s life’. I think he was truly worried about you.”

Tony finished his drink, “I feel responsible for him. And if he dies because of something like that, then I feel like that’s on me.”

“You can’t hold everyone up,” Pepper gave him a small smile.

“I can try,” Tony shrugged.

“What was that about hating heroes?”

“I’m….going to allow that,” Tony looked at her, “Don’t tease me.”

“But it’s so easy,” Pepper smiled at him as she got up, “Try and get some sleep, Tony. You look exhausted.”

“Yeah, I will…,” Tony set his glass down. Pepper nodded and then left him alone. Tony sighed and laid down on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. He was glad he had her. He had definitely met some good people while he was the CEO of Stark Industries….that made him even more nervous. He didn’t want to lose any of them.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Tony didn’t want to admit that the month that he’d prohibited Quentin from working in the lab was quite boring for him, but it was. He didn’t have anyone else to talk to so he did somewhat miss his partner. However, once Quentin got back, the boy was set on working on some new project. Whenever Tony wasn’t having him assist him with his work, the boy was over at his table, putting something together. They still talked though, and that’s all Tony really cared about. He had become so accustomed to having company in the lab, it felt weird without it. Their work continued relatively normal for the most part. They sold a whole bunch of weapons off to the military a few months after the incident and then continued working on improving on what they were making. It took a long time and Tony didn’t have as much time to work on his side projects anymore. They were pushed to the side as more of his main projects became his point of focus.   
That’s how it continued for a few years. He and Quentin worked side by side for the most part and then did their own thing when they had time. He liked the company that the kid offered and they spent more time just hanging out after work hours. Tony found himself actually feeling rather comfortable in life for once. He had a good group of people around him. Maybe things were actually starting to work out. 

“Beck, what the fuck are you doing?” Tony groaned as he opened the doors to the lab at six in the morning to see Quentin already hunched over his desk.

“Working,” Quentin replied. Tony watched him for a moment and raised an eyebrow when Quentin looked up to meet his eyes. The kid had needed glasses from too many long nights in the lab, he’d gotten them about a year ago right before he turned twenty-two. 

“You really gotta start sleeping.”

“You really gotta stop being a hypocrite.”

“Ah, so we’re in that mood today,” Tony rolled his eyes as he shut the door, “Don’t I get a break from bratty teenager Quentin?”

Quentin didn’t answer him, having focused back on his work. Tony could see the dark circles around his eyes and he sighed again. 

“Kid, seriously. Take a nap. This is absolutely not healthy I’ll have Jarvis shut down the lab.”

Quentin sighed and pushed away from the desk, “I’m really close, I can feel it…”

“You’ll be really close in a few hours, too,” Tony replied, “Besides, we’ve got testing this afternoon. You can work on stuff later tonight, alright?”

“Fine,” Quentin mumbled, getting up and rubbing his eyes, “Don’t touch my shit.”

“I really don’t plan on it,” Tony sighed. “Go to bed.”

“Can’t I just sleep on the couch?”

“If you must,” Tony sat down at his desk and watched Quentin go lay down on the couch across from him. He really needed to start being a better example so Quentin couldn’t pull the hypocrite card anymore. He hadn’t been drinking as much lately which was definitely a step up, but he needed to start getting more sleep anyway. He decided to start trying to do that a little more. 

“I’m not tired,” Quentin sighed and Tony turned to look at him. He was laying with his eyes open, watching him.

“If you close your eyes, you’ll go to sleep,” Tony replied, “I can’t have you passed out at the testing.”

“I’m just really excited about my stuff.”

“I know, but it really can wait. There’s no deadline for your shit,” Tony replied, waving a hand at him, “Go to bed.”

Quentin huffed and rolled over, facing away from him and dozing off. Tony worked quietly until noon when they were supposed to head out. He woke up his dozing partner who rolled off the couch, running a hand through his hair and rubbing his eyes. They headed out of the tower and got in the car. Quentin yawned and sighed. “How long is this going to be?”

“Few hours,” Tony nodded.

“Great,” Quentin leaned his head on the window of the car, “I’m losing time.”

“You have a long life ahead of you kid, you’re not losing time. You are so dramatic,” Tony replied. Quentin huffed and just stared out the window. Tony sighed. It had only been recently that he was acting like this and it was really getting on Tony’s nerves. He didn’t know why Quentin was being such a little shit, but he really wanted it to end. He wanted his old work partner back. The ride seemed to drag on forever and Tony actually called Rhodey so he could talk to him on the phone instead of just sitting quietly in the back of the car with a pouty twenty-three year old who hadn’t gotten enough sleep. Once they got close, Tony hung up the phone and nudged Quentin who was asleep again, “Time to get up.”

Quentin nodded and stretched in the car as they pulled up to the testing site. Tony got out of the car and sighed. He straightened his jacket and then headed over to where the others were waiting. Quentin followed after him, adjusting his glasses. Tony talked to some of his convoy about what some of the weapons were going to do, explaining the distance that they needed between themselves and the explosions so no one would be hurt. He had a couple smaller things that they would be testing at a closer range so that the result would be viewable. He and Quentin had worked together on these things so the younger man was aware of what would happen with each one. They tested the further range things first and everything was going smoothly. 

“Now, this is one I’m more proud of,” Tony smiled slightly, “The spread on this is pretty impressive. Even if your aim is a little off, there’s still a good chance of hitting your target.” 

“It’s purpose is to disable,” Quentin nodded, “Good for capturing people. The spread won’t go in too deep, but it’ll definitely slow a man down.”

Tony nodded, “We’ll show the effect of the spread on those targets. I’m going to aim right between the middle and it’ll spread to hit both targets on the side as well. Now, no one stand behind them, as any shards that miss will go through those gaps.”

Quentin watched him intently and Tony moved to step in front of the targets, “Can’t I test it?”

“You want to?” Tony looked at him.

Quentin nodded, “My test will be more productive. How are we supposed to test if the shots will actually slow someone down if we don’t actually test it on someone?”

“We’re not testing that,” Tony replied, looking at him, “We’re testing the spread.”

“Well we should be testing it,” Quentin insisted, “What’s the purpose of testing this if we don’t test what it’s supposed to be doing?”

“We are not having this conversation right now.”

“We should be having it,” Quentin reached out and grabbed the other half of the gun. Tony stared at him.

“Let go of it.”

“Let me test it.”

“Beck, I’m giving you one chance here, right now. Let go of it. I can ban you from the lab again.”

“You can’t ground me like a kid anymore,” Quentin didn’t let go, “Let me test it how you should actually be using it.”

“I’m not letting you touch this thing.”

Quentin jerked his arm and tried to pull it out of his grip, “We have medics right here for a reason.”

“You’re fucking crazy,” Tony held tight to it, “We are having a serious talk once we get back home.” He gestured to the security time to come grab Quentin so he could get on with the test. When he lost his focus on Quentin for that one second, the other man jerked his hand again and Tony instinctively tightened his grip on it. The gun went off and everyone froze. The sound of the pieces hitting the targets echoed in the silence afterwards. Tony stared at Quentin for a moment, his heart beating fast. The grip on the other end of the gun loosened and the younger man coughed, falling back to the ground. Blood stained the dirt underneath him. “Fuck, fuck, fuck….” 

Tony tossed the gun aside and quickly knelt down by him. He was glad that the medic was already hurrying over. He lifted him up slightly.

“You are such a fucking idiot, you know that,” he managed. Quentin just held his stomach in pain and Tony was glad that this thing wasn’t made for killing people or he would’ve just shot his partner in a very deadly spot. The medic knelt down by him and got to work removing the shards from Quentin’s skin. “How bad is it?”

“The close range made them go in deeper, but he’ll be alright,” the medic replied as he carefully extracted the tips of the shards. Quentin winced every so often and gripped onto Tony’s arm.

“Okay,” Tony sighed. At least he’d be alright. He let Quentin hold onto him until he was bandaged. Thankfully, that had been the last thing they needed to get done so they could head home. He supported Quentin on the way back to the car. Quentin was silent once they got back in and on the entire ride home. Tony waited until they were back into the tower and up at the penthouse before slamming his stuff down. “We need to talk for a minute.”

Quentin turned to look at him, “About what?”

“About what the hell that was,” Tony looked at him, “We do not ever test weapons on people, what the hell were you thinking?”

“You can’t slow down a target,” Quentin shrugged, “What if this thing didn’t work, huh?”

“It did exactly what it was supposed to do,” Tony glared at him, “That kind of shot will slow down anyone, you’re lucky you’re not dead.”

“Isn’t it better to lose one person instead of letting a man get away with something that could potentially start a war?” Quentin met his eyes.

Tony clenched his jaw, “This is not the same thing at all.”

“I think it is,” Quentin replied, “You sacrifice one person so that you can fix the mistakes here and then the bad guys don’t get away.”

“Our scenario was incredibly different.”

“Besides, this thing isn’t designed to kill,” Quentin shrugged, “He only would’ve been a little injured.”

“Beck, we’re not discussing this any further,” Tony shook his head, “You are not allowed to come with me on anymore testing runs until you fix whatever is going on in your head, got it? And I don’t want you in the lab tonight, either. I don’t want to see you right now.”

Quentin glared at him but then turned away and headed for the door.

“Don’t go to that lab.”

“I won’t,” Quentin snapped before shutting the door behind him. Tony sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He didn’t know what was going on with Quentin but he did not like what he’d seen today. He decided to call Rhodey and get him over for a little. His friend agreed easily and he let out a sigh of relief. At least he could tell someone about this. He made himself dinner and made sure Jarvis brought Rhodey up to the penthouse. 

“Hey Tony…”

“Thanks for coming.”

“What’s going on?”

“Beck is...out of control right now.”

“What happened?” Rhodey sat down across from him.

Tony explained what had gone down earlier to him rather quickly, “I just don’t understand where this came from.”

“He hasn’t been acting like that apart from today?”

“No, he’s been focused on his work and stuff,” Tony sighed, “He’s always been a little easy to piss off, but today was like a whole new person.”

Rhodey nodded slightly, “Be careful with him. Normal people don’t…..do that.”

“Yeah, I got that,” Tony nodded slightly. 

Rhodey gave him a small smile, “Just hope that it was just a one time thing.”

Tony nodded, “Yeah, I’m definitely going to be hoping that’s what it is. I really cannot handle another psychopath.”

“That what I am?”

Tony looked up to see Quentin standing in the doorway, “Beck…”

“I get it,” Quentin turned away, “I’ll go since I’m obviously too much to handle.”

Tony got up quickly and moved over to him, grabbing his wrist gently, “Quentin, wait.”

Quentin didn’t look at him, but he didn’t pull away either.

“Look, what happened out there today was really fucked up...I’m not going to lie that it was completely wrong. And what you did can never happen again, but I don’t want you gone. I don’t think you’re crazy, I just...I need you to use your head sometimes other than for inventing things…. people could’ve gotten really hurt out there. You did get really hurt out there.”

Quentin looked at him, finally, “You...aren’t kicking me out?”

“No, I’m not. I’m really angry at you, right now. But I’m not kicking you out. Just don’t let something like that happen again, or I’ll have to.”

Quentin swallowed slightly and nodded, lowering his head, “I’m sorry…”

Tony glanced at Rhodey and gave him a slight nod before putting his arm around Quentin’s shoulders, “Come on, let’s get back to your room.”

Rhodey gave him a wave. Tony walked with Quentin back towards his room. They were silent for the most part. 

“Does it hurt still?”

“Yeah.”

“How bad?”

“Not too bad.”

“That’s good at least.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s my fault.”

Tony looked at him, “I should’ve been more careful…”

“It’s still my fault,” Quentin shook his head, “I’ve been in so many life threatening situations during my time at your tower than I ever had been before…”

Tony laughed softly, “I’m sorry….”

“It’s okay.”

“You should really get some rest. Don’t be sneaking up on me like that.”

“Did you mean it?”

“No, I didn’t. I said I didn’t want to see you turn into one of them. I like you, Beck. Remember that.”

“Okay, sir.” Quentin nodded and then opened the door to his room, “I’ll see you in a few days.”

“A few days,” Tony agreed. Quentin shut the door and Tony let out a sigh as he headed back to his room. He couldn’t handle the events of today. He really, really needed to go to bed. He sat down on the edge of his bed and closed his eyes, only to see the gun go off in his hand and Quentin’s eyes widen in surprise and pain as he was shot in the stomach. He let out a shaky breath and shook his head, “Fuck…”

He couldn’t let this happen again. It was why he wasn’t allowing Quentin back on the testing crew again for a while. He couldn’t have an accident where he had to see pain in those eyes. He didn’t think he’d be able to handle it. He hated that Quentin reminded him so much of himself. He really hoped that things would work out alright. He didn’t want to cast the boy out.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Tony knew the years wouldn’t be perfect, but they weren’t awful either. He and Quentin got into arguments a lot but for the most part, things went smoothly. They worked together on a lot of things. He still didn’t allow Quentin to go to any of the weapon testing. He couldn’t have another incident. But they hadn’t had any awful incidents since then, thankfully. Quentin was still working on some side project of his but he refused to show Tony what it was. Tony didn’t let it bother him. He knew he’d show him eventually. Instead, he focused on his work. They were doing well and they had a testing coming up soon. However, his focus wasn’t on the testing date, he had other things to worry about. They had a party coming up, much like the one that he’d met Quentin at, and they had to prepare for it. And by that, he meant that the rest of the tower had to prepare for it and he would just focus on his small speech he had to make. He was not going to focus on enjoying that party.   
The day for the party came too soon for his liking and he regretted making it the night before he would have to go testing. He was not going to make it through the whole thing. He had to hide his annoyance that people were arriving early. He fixed his tie and then headed down the hall to knock on Quentin’s door. 

“Hey, kid, come on,” Tony called.

“Literally thirty, Mr. Stark,” Quentin’s voice replied to him, “Stop calling me kid.”

“It suits you,” Tony replied, “Are you coming or what, Beck?”

“Yeah, yeah, hold on…”

Tony waited at the door and a few minutes later, Quentin opened it and stepped out. He still looked young and Tony really didn’t understand how they guy barely seemed to age a day since he’d met him. He shook his head and sighed, “You ready?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Quentin shrugged. Tony nodded and they headed to the elevator to go down to the main floor where the party was. “I’ve started to hate these parties as much as you.”

“Not possible,” Tony shook his head, “Besides, you should be excited about this one, at least. You’ll finally be introduced on stage.”

Quentin glanced at him, “Really?”

Tony nodded, “I’m tired of doing all the speeches so I hope you have something prepared.”

“I-I….don’t,” Quentin stared at him, “How long do I have?”

“You know about two minutes,” Tony nodded as the elevator doors opened and they arrived at the party. He could almost feel the stress radiating off the younger man as they walked through the crowd. Tony greeted a few people as they pushed carefully through the crowd. It was already exhausting and he was ready to get out of here and just relax so he could be ready for the testing tomorrow. He headed up to the stage and gave Pepper a small smile, “Having fun?”

“Tons,” Pepper gave him a small smile, “Are you going to give a real thank you tonight? You have lots of clients and potential clients here.”

“Nope, I’m not giving any thank yous,” Tony grinned as he turned away, “Beck is…”

“Yeah...yeah, I am…,” Quentin smiled nervously.

Pepper looked at Tony, “You turned this over to him instead?”

“I did.”

“When?”

“About two minutes ago,” Quentin admitted.

“It’s going to be great, trust me,” Tony nodded as he got up and tapped the microphone once to make sure it worked. The static attracted everyone’s attention and they started to quiet down. He glanced back at Quentin who was standing a few steps behind him, still looking nervous but ready. He waved to the crowd and gave them a smile, “Evening, everyone…”

There was a quiet murmur that rose up from the crowd in reply and he smiled again.

“Every year we have this party, and I’m sure you are all aware of exactly what I’m going to say this evening. It’s the same as every year,” Tony grinned at some of the quiet laughs, “Which is why I’m turning the microphone over to my partner, Mr. Beck.”

He knew that most of his clients hadn’t really met Quentin so it somewhat of a surprise that he was handing his welcome speech over to someone else. 

Quentin stepped up to the microphone and glanced at Tony before turning back out to the crowd and waving, “Hi everyone, and thank you, Tony, for giving me this honor. Working with Tony over the past years has been incredible and we’ve been working on some really good stuff. But all of our advancements wouldn’t be possible without all of you who are here tonight. You guys really push us to keep improving and advancing. So tonight isn’t just about our achievements, but a thank you to all of you who have helped us get here. Thank you, and enjoy your evening.” 

There was an applause and Tony grinned at him as he stepped down from the podium, “Wow, Beck, where’d you pull that out of?”

“My ass,” Quentin admitted, “Did it sound shitty?”

“No, it sounded exactly like what they wanted to hear. Any buyers we get tonight are on you.”

Quentin grinned, “That means I get a bonus, right?”

“We’ll think about that.”

“Nice job, Quentin,” Pepper nodded, “That was better than what Tony was planning, I’m sure.”

Tony rolled his eyes, “I would’ve made them cry.”

Quentin grinned, “Thanks….”

“He’s a people person,” Tony shrugged.

Pepper laughed softly, “Something you should try harder to be.”

“People should try harder to like me,” Tony pointed out, “We’re going to go party.”

“We are?”

“You are definitely not,” Pepper laughed and shook her head.

“She’s right, we’re not,” Tony nodded at Quentin who relaxed a little. “You know, you used to enjoy these things when you were twenty-one.”

“That was nine years ago.”

“I know thirty year olds who still like to party.”

Quentin snorted, “I’m not one of those. You should go talk to potential clients and stuff, right? So I can get a bonus.”

“There is no guaranteed bonus.”

“But you’re gonna give me one anyway, right?”

Tony rolled his eyes, “Isn’t whatever secret project you’re working on going to support you for life?”

“Yeah, but it isn’t done yet,” Quentin protested.

“We’ll see,” Tony headed into the crowd. They’d have to give some interviews and answer some questions of course, but he was planning on getting out of here relatively soon. He glanced at Quentin occasionally who looked like he was enjoying all of the new attention on him. He could only imagine the stories that would come out about Quentin if the other man exaggerated himself. He always seemed very humble around Tony, but Tony knew that the other man had an incredible ego that matched Tony’s own. Tony turned his attention back to his own interviewer and provided a few quick answers before dodging the next few and heading off to get lost in the crowd again. He got a drink from the bar and then an extra for his partner before going to drag him away from his conversations. 

“....well, like I said. We kind of like to think of ourselves as more of a team than just individuals, you know? Credit goes to both of us,” Tony was quite sure that Quentin hadn’t closed his mouth since he’d opened it. He sighed and headed over.

“Hey, come on, we got something to do,” Tony held out a drink to Quentin as he pushed his way into the little circle.

“Ah, alright,” Quentin waved to the people he was talking to before he followed behind Tony. “Done partying?”

“You could say that. Do you know who any of those people were?”

“Yeah.”

“How?”

“They told me.”

“You recognized them?”

“I mean….maybe.”

“You gotta be careful who you’re talking to, Beck. I don’t want you giving out any kind of important stuff out to someone who wants to use it against us.”

“I didn’t say anything important,” Quentin assured him, “They just wanted to know how fun it was to work with you. I’m living the dream.”

Tony laughed softly, “Still?”

“Everyone else’s dream.”

“Not yours anymore?”

“It’s my reality now,” Quentin smiled back at him and they headed out of the room. Tony pushed the button to go in the elevator. They went up to the penthouse and they both let out a breath when they stepped in. “Leaving the party just immediately relaxes me.”

“You’ve become way too much like me,” Tony shook his head. Quentin laughed softly and set his drink on the counter.

“This could use like a hundred percent more alcohol,” Quentin dumped it down the sink and then looked for whiskey in the cabinet. Tony groaned.

“Way too close.”

Quentin grinned and poured them both a new drink. Tony accepted the glass and opened the doors so they could go outside. He sighed as they leaned against the railing. 

“So you’ll be alone tomorrow afternoon,” Tony hummed, “Don’t cause any trouble.”

“You could take me with you.”

“I told you already that I’m not going to,” Tony turned to look at him, “I don’t care if it’s been a long time since then, I don’t trust you out there. In here, yes.”

Quentin huffed and ran a hand through his hair, “How am I supposed to ge field experience with that stuff if you won’t let me go out there?”

“Do you want to come and just sit in the car and watch from a distance?”

“That’s not fair!”

“You’re not coming. When I figure out a way to make it not dangerous for anyone with you around, you’re welcome back.”

Quentin sighed softly and took a sip of his drink, “And what am I supposed to do while you’re gone?”

“Wait for me to get back?” Tony gave him a small smirk which earned him a light shove. “Work on your secret project.”

Quentin nodded slightly, “Alright…”

“Besides, tomorrow’s tests aren’t anything super exciting. You’d probably be bored.”

“So I can just work on whatever I want?”

“Yeah,” Tony nodded, “Don’t be modifying any of my stuff or anything but you can work on anything you’ve been playing around with.”

Quentin nodded, “I guess that’s not so bad.”

“It’s really not,” Tony nodded. They sipped their drinks in silence for a little while they watched the cars beneath them. They could hear some of the party below them from the doors opening and closing and the shouts and music but for the most part it was quiet. “You did a nice job today.”

“With what? The speech?”

“Yeah,” Tony nodded.

“Thanks…,” Quentin sighed softly, “I didn’t really know what I was doing. Honestly, I was sweating a lot.”

“You didn’t look like it,” Tony laughed, “And that’s all that matters. As long as you look confident, people will believe you.”

Quentin smiled, “Well, I can’t very well go up there and say we’re the smartest people in the world and literally don’t need any help, right?”

“That probably wouldn’t be the best idea,” Tony agreed as he took a drink and they both laughed quietly.

“I did mean one part though,” Quentin looked at him.

“What’s that?”

“Working here and with you has been incredible. Even if it has almost gotten me killed a few times.”

“I’m glad you’re enjoying it here. Try not to die.”

“You enjoy that I’m here too, right?”

“Nope. Honestly, I find you incredibly annoying.”

Quentin laughed again and finished his drink, “You’d miss me, if I wasn’t here.”

“I would,” Tony gave him a small smile, “Maybe just a tiny bit.”

“Who else is going to run out of parties with you?”

“I can get Rhodey to do that anytime.”

“You replace me so easily, it hurts,” Quentin whined. 

Tony snorted and finished his drink as well, “Let’s get inside. It’s going to rain, anyway. I need to sleep before the test tomorrow.”

Quentin nodded and pushed away from the railing, “Alright. I’ll see you tomorrow before you go, Tony….”

“Don’t touch any of my stuff while I’m gone.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Quentin gave him a grin before heading out of the penthouse. Tony set his glass down before heading out as well. He really did like the guy. Maybe he could trust him enough soon to take him back out with him. But for now, he would go on his own.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Tony slowly made his way up to Stark Tower three months later. He let out a breath. He was exhausted and he really needed to just sleep for about a year. He glanced down at the glowing machine in his chest. This was the only reason he was alive now. He took a breath and tried to relax. Rhodey had gotten him back safely and he was happy that he’d gotten back after most of the employees were gone. He wasn’t ready for all the questions. 

“Tony?” Pepper asked as he stepped inside, “Oh my god….we were all so worried…”

“I’m okay,” Tony gave her a gentle hug, “I am….I mean….maybe not perfectly okay, but...I’m alive.”

“What is this…?” she asked, looking at the arc reactor.

“It’s a really powerful energy source,” Tony took a breath, “It’s keeping me alive…”

“You’ll die without it?”

“Pretty sure,” Tony nodded slightly, “We’re not going to test that theory.”

Pepper nodded slightly, “I’m just….glad that you’re alive.”

“Me too,” Tony said softly, “I need to get some rest...I can answer more questions in the morning.”

“Okay, get some rest,” Pepper nodded. Tony nodded and gave her another quick hug before he slowly made his way up to the elevator. He could use a drink, but he went to his room to change out of his disgusting clothes. He took a deep breath and put some comfortable clothes on. He went to the bathroom and splashed some water on his face. He left his room and turned to head back to the elevator. He was waiting for it when he heard something drop to the floor behind him. He spun around, ready for a fight. But he was just faced with another man who was staring at him. His blue eyes wide and his papers and folders scattered all over the floor. 

“Mr. Stark….?”

Tony had a brief flashback to the first time that his intern had found him passed out drunk in the lab. He managed a small half-smile and let out a breath, “Hey…”

He braced himself as he saw his partner run forward and grab him, pulling him into a hug. Tony winced but moved his hands up to hold him gently. 

“They all said you were dead….that you were gone…”

“You can never trust the news,” Tony said softly, “It’s good to see you again, Quentin.”

Quentin pulled back from him slightly and gave him a small smile, “It’s good to see you, too, Tony.”

“Now, I really need a drink,” Tony said softly, “You want to join me?”

“Yeah,” Quentin moved to pick up all his papers that he’d dropped. Tony waited for him and they headed up to the penthouse in the elevator. It was quiet between the two of them until they both had a glass in their hand and were sprawled on couches facing one another. “So what the fuck happened?”

Tony took a deep breath and then explained slowly to him the past three months. He tried not to meet his eyes, instead opting to study his drink. He didn’t want to see all the horrified expressions the younger man was making. 

“So….that thing keeps you alive?” Quentin asked, pointing to the arc reactor in his chest and Tony nodded.

“Yeah,” Tony nodded, “And I don’t really want to test that theory.”

“Right,” Quentin nodded, “So what now?”

“We have a project to start but for right now, I just want to rest,” Tony nodded, “I’m going to have a lot of stuff to talk about to every news channel tomorrow.”

Quentin nodded, “I’m sure Pepper and I can steer them away. I look unapproachable sometimes.”

“No, it’s better I get it out of the way or they’ll stalk me.”

“I guess you’ve got a point,” Quentin admitted, “Okay...I should stop bothering you. Fuck, what’re we doing? You need to sleep…”

“You think I’m going to sleep after all that?”

Quentin got up and reached for the bottle of whiskey, “I’ll set my alarm.”

“That’s my boy,” Tony grinned, “Now you’re talking.”

The two of them drank for a while and talked a little. Tony was just glad to be back in the comfort of his home. He knew that he’d have horrible nightmares once again for a long time but at least he was home. He and Quentin passed out on their respective couches, Quentin’s phone set to ring at 9:00am.

..

Tony knew that he’d only made it through that night with the help of the alcohol but at least he’d had some hours of sleep. He was hungover and still a bit of a mess but Quentin wasn’t fairing much better. The younger man never handled heavy drinking well and was currently curled up in the penthouse bathroom after throwing up. Tony made himself some breakfast and then managed to drag his whiny partner out of the bathroom to eat as well. He could hear the commotion downstairs and the constant texts from Pepper and alerts from Jarvis told him that everyone was waiting for his statements. He got ready, keeping the arc reactor hidden under his shirt. He gave Quentin a nod. “You ready to face the demons?”

“Always,” Quentin gave him a small smile, “You’ll be fine.”

Tony nodded and they headed down to the main lobby. He mentally prepared himself before the doors opened but Quentin had stepped in front of him as they did. People were already crowding around but Quentin was moving them aside and asking them very politely to wait until Tony was in the front of the room. Tony was somewhat relieved that he had him here for now. Pepper joined Quentin in getting the reporters to let him through to the front of the room where the podium was for him to talk. He sighed and stepped up to the microphone. He told a brief, less dramatic version of what had happened over the past three months. He answered a few of their questions and then sighed softly. 

“Mr. Stark, what are your plans going forward?”

Tony thought for a moment. He knew what his plans were, but for the company…, “Stark Industries will no longer be developing weapons. I’m turning our focus to clean and powerful energy sources.” 

He noticed the look of disbelief that he got from Quentin as he answered a few more questions before his time was up. He thanked the reporters for coming even if they had barged into his workplace and basically demanded an interview. He made his way down from the podium and Quentin and Pepper got him back to the elevator. The three of them got into it and headed up. Tony let out a soft sigh of relief.

“You did really well, Tony,” Pepper nodded. 

“I mean, it wasn’t your best work,” Quentin shrugged and winced when Pepper smacked his arm, “Heyyyy….”

Tony stared at them for a minute and then the doors opened. Pepper smiled at Tony and then gave Quentin a look and Tony raised an eyebrow as the doors shut. Quentin hummed softly as the doors shut and shifted to stand a little straighter up, “What the fuck was that?”

“What was what?” Quentin looked at him.

“That look,” Tony frowned.

“Oh…,” Quentin laughed softly and ducked his head, “It’s nothing.”

“As your boss, you’re obligated to tell me.”

Quentin rolled his eyes, “Alright, alright….I was spending a lot of late nights in the lab. We were both really worried about you….I guess we just had to find some way to not think about it for a little….”

Tony frowned, “So you’re a thing now?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Quentin shook his head, “It only happened twice so…”

“I see.”

They got to their floor and headed out of the elevator. They got back to their lab before Quentin turned to him. All the humor was gone from his face and Tony could tell the mood of the conversation was going to shift a lot.

“So you were like joking about that thing with the weapons right?” Quentin looked at him.

“No, I absolutely was not,” Tony shook his head, “I’m done with that.”

Quentin shook his head and looked away, “This is what you’re known for. No one is going to….be interested in this shift...and it isn’t even gradual, you’re cutting off everything right away.”

“I’m not going to be responsible for that kind of thing anymore,” Tony shook his head, “One of my own weapons almost killed me, Quentin.”

“You can’t just throw all of this stuff away!” Quentin insisted, “All of our work is useless now!”

“We can still use pieces of it, I’m not selling anyone anymore weapons,” Tony shook his head again, “You can’t change my mind.”

Quentin just shook his head and ran a hand through his hair, “This is the stupidest fucking thing…..”

Tony sighed, “When you get your head on straight, I’m going to need your help with something.”

“When are you going to get your head on straight?” Quentin asked him, following after him as Tony moved around the lab, “What about the people who had ideas for this company? What about MY ideas?”

“Scrap them, we’re starting over,” Tony gazed at him, “It’s my orders.”

Quentin looked like he was trying not to pull his own hair out, “Weapons hurt people, Stark, you obviously knew that! Where was your conscious ten years ago, huh!?”

“We’re very sheltered here, Quentin,” Tony replied quietly.

“So it’s selfishness then?” Quentin glared at him, “You almost got blown up by your own missile and you decide you don’t want any more of them flying at you?”

Tony grabbed him by the collar of his jacket, “You think selfishness is stopping the selling of weapons across the world where they’re used to kill people every day?”

Quentin met his gaze, “You never realized that? Are you that stupid?”

Tony let go of him, “Besides, the only reason I see that you’re upset is because it ruins your plans. Isn’t that pretty selfish of you?”

Quentin clenched his jaw, “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“This is the first time I’m pretty sure I do know what I’m talking about,” Tony replied, “Now, go get a breath of air and punch a wall or two before you come back. Go on, get out.”

Quentin huffed and headed out of the lab. Tony slowly sat down at his desk and tried to relax. He was already second-guessing his choice. He knew he’d have to really promote his new stuff but whenever he closed his eyes he saw his name branded on the side of that missile. He knew that people would hate him for that if they saw the same thing like that, hell, he hated himself for that. So maybe it was a little selfish like Quentin had said but he knew the overall effect wouldn’t be. There were obviously other companies who would sell weapons and build them, but he didn’t want anything to do with it anymore. He knew this was the right choice. It wasn’t until that evening that Quentin showed back up in his lab. 

“Are you done pouting?”

“Don’t make me mad again,” Quentin huffed as he sat down across from him, “What’s our first light bulb project?”

“Oh shut the fuck up,” Tony rolled his eyes. “We’re going to be dealing with a very powerful energy source. Me.”

“You?” Quentin’s eyes went to his chest and Tony nodded.

“Me. I told you about how I got out of there. I want to make it better.”

“That’s a weapon, Stark.”

“It’s a personal project.”

Quentin’s mouth turned up slightly, “So a power suit? What’re you gonna do with it?”

“The guys who captured me. There are still some of them out there,” Tony nodded.

Quentin laughed softly, “This is going to be the most deadliest weapon you’ve ever made.”

“That’s kind of what I’m hoping for,” Tony nodded. “And there will only be one of them.”

“When do we start work?” 

“Tomorrow,” Tony nodded, “I have a private lab where we’ll work. At my house.”

“Your house?” Quentin raised his eyebrow, “Do you ever not work?”

“Do you?”

Quentin rolled his eyes and sighed, “When should I be ready tomorrow?”

“Nine,” Tony nodded, “Bring some clothes, we’ll be there for a while.”

“Like more than what’s on my body?”

“A few changes, yes,” Tony nodded, “Also because I’m not sure how fast we’ll start setting things on fire.”

Quentin grinned, “Sounds like my kind of party.”

Tony shook his head. Quentin’s first day as an official employee and not just an intern, he’d started part of their lab on fire. He’d sworn it was an accident but Tony was pretty sure the kid had been trying to see just what he could get away with as an employee. “You’re going to basically be my editor.”

“What?”

“I want you looking over my shoulder. Change what you don’t think will work and we’ll talk about it. I’m going to build it. You’re not allowed near the power tools.”

Quentin sighed, “Alright…”

“And you’ll oversee my test runs.”

“Cool,” Quentin grinned at him, “So a full body suit?”

Tony nodded, “I think so.”

Quentin nodded, “Well...I guess we’ll meet tomorrow?”

Tony nodded, “Yeah. Go on, get out.”

Quentin got up and wandered to the door, heading to the elevator. Tony sighed as he watched him. The next few days would be incredibly stressful and exhausting but he needed to do it. He had to tie up the loose ends. 

..

The suit took a little while and a lot of test runs. The two of them didn’t sleep for days while they worked on it. Tony did most of the work and just had Quentin oversee the tests so he didn’t accidentally kill himself. Most of their test runs ended with Quentin saying something along the lines of “I don’t think that was supposed to happen” and Tony replying with “No, it definitely wasn’t.”   
Tony lost track of how many test runs it took to get everything right but eventually they got it. His suit was pretty perfect in his opinion. There would always be changes and advancements he could make on it but for now, this would be perfect for him to finish what he’d gotten involved in. 

“You sure you won’t need help?” Quentin asked him as he watched him get ready, “I can have your back.”

“Absolutely not,” Tony replied, “I’m going to finish this by myself. I don’t want anyone else involved. You stay at the tower and do your work.”

“You scrapped my work,” Quentin pointed out.

“Work on a personal project,” Tony shrugged.

“When are you going to be back?”

“Hopefully very soon,” Tony nodded, “Be safe, Quentin.”

Quentin gave him a small smile, “Remember, don’t use too much power and...the don’t crash.”

“I’ll do my best,” Tony smiled back at him as the helmet closed over his face. He glanced around and focused on his partner for a moment, “Any last words before I head out?”

Quentin was looking at his armor, “Whoever these guys are….they’re fucked.”

“You bet they are,” Tony nodded before taking off from the private spot of his backyard. He had a mission to finish.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Tony really….really needed a break. He knew Obadiah Stane was bad news and he’d asked Pepper to look into what kind of shit he was pulling. The bad part? He knew that Quentin had been kind of interested in Stane and how he worked. The younger man had befriended some guy who was working with him and Tony had seen them having lunch together and talking. The guy was a lot older than Quentin so Tony just assumed it was like a mentor kind of thing. He was pacing his room, tense and waiting for Pepper.

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” Quentin frowned, “So he was pissed that you stopped with the weapon stuff. Everybody was.”

“I just don’t trust people,” Tony muttered. 

“Did you like hack my computer too?” Quentin asked.

“No, you didn’t pose a threat, you were just stupid,” Tony shrugged. Quentin gave him a look and crossed his arms. Tony gave him a small smile, “You’re really the only person that I trust, okay? Don’t fuck that up.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Quentin sighed as he watched Tony pace. Tony wasn’t looking directly at him, but he could feel his eyes on him. “Are you sure you aren’t going to like pass out?”

“Does it look like I might?” Tony gave him a look, “Huh, I wonder why.”

Quentin went over to him and grabbed his shoulders, “Just sit down for a minute, please. She is going to be fine.”

“If there is shit that she finds out then she’ll be in trouble too,” Tony sighed softly.

“Are you two gonna like get together yet?”

“I sorta tried at a party but...totally didn’t,” Tony shrugged. “I dunno if it’ll work out with her...she deserves better than me.”

“Not wrong,” Quentin shrugged.

“Shut up,” Tony hit him gently on the head, getting a grin out of the younger man.

“Sit down,” Quentin gently sat him down on the couch, “Please.”

Tony looked at him and saw Quentin’s usually annoyed resting face wasn’t there. He looked genuinely concerned. He sighed and quietly sat down. He ran a hand over his face. “Sorry.”

“Did I get an apology from Tony Stark?” Quentin raised an eyebrow, “You really must not be feeling good…let me get you a drink, alright?”

Tony nodded slightly, “Alright…”

Quentin headed to the next room to get a drink for the two of them. Tony sat in silence. He was going to freak out if Pepper didn’t call. As if his prayers had been answered, his phone rang. He grabbed it and quickly answered it.

“Pepper?”

“Tony? Thank god...where are you?”

Tony went to answer but he found he couldn’t. He couldn’t even move. He could feel the panic rising but he couldn’t do anything about it. And that was when Obadiah appeared in front of him with that blasted piece of tech that could paralyze people for fifteen minutes. Oh god.

“I’m really sorry, Tony...especially since you dragged so many people into this…,” Obadiah looked at him, “Pepper’s wonderful. It’s a shame she’ll have to die.”

Tony just stared straight ahead. This was...horrifying. He’d really trusted this man. He couldn’t actually be doing this. He had something that he was putting on the arc reactor…

“It’s beautiful, Tony...when you said you wanted to stop making weapons but...here you are...with your greatest invention…”

Tony felt sick. He couldn’t really...do much without that. 

“It’s a shame it has to end like this, Tony,” Obadiah gazed at him. Tony wanted nothing more than to punch his fucking head.

“You know, I think you need to stop drinking because we’re low on alcohol,” Quentin called and Tony knew his heart was stopping. No...if Quentin walked in….

Obadiah had immediately turned to the doorway and raised the gun he’d brought with him. Tony tried to speak, tried as much as he could to warn Quentin or beg Obadiah not to hurt him. Quentin stepped in and froze. Tony couldn’t do anything but watch as Obadiah shot at him. Alcohol flew everywhere and Quentin fell on top of the broken glass from when he’d dropped the glasses. “Like I said, Tony...I’m really sorry...but if you think about it...you didn’t need to bring either of them into this. It’s a shame...I really liked Beck.”

Tony watched as Obadiah left. The room was too silent. He could start to feel the effects wearing off, but he couldn’t do anything without the reactor. His gaze landed on the one at his desk. The old one that Pepper had gotten as a trophy and Quentin had laughed at him for days. He pushed himself off the couch and managed to crawl across the floor. Fuck, he wasn’t going to make it. The glass dug into his skin. He reached for the box but couldn’t do it. He swallowed hard and stared up at the ceiling. He was just too weak. He heard movement and glanced to see Quentin slowly pushing himself up. He was still alive? There was blood everywhere and Tony swallowed when he saw it running down into his eye. Obadiah had shot him in the side of the head and Quentin had been smart enough not to move after the shot only grazed him. 

“Q…..please…”

Quentin blinked at him and then slowly stumbled to the table. Tony let out a breath of relief when he saw Quentin grab the box and kneel down to smash it on the floor to get the reactor out. He handed it to him and Tony quickly got it hooked in. Not the best, but a suitable substitute for now. He coughed and pulled himself to his knees, grabbing Quentin’s shoulders.

“I need to go….”

“You need help…,” Quentin mumbled.

“You need help,” Tony looked at him and could see that he was still a little disoriented, “Get help.”

Quentin blinked slowly and then nodded slightly, “Okay…”

“I have to go…,” Tony tried to meet his eyes but Quentin’s eyes were still unfocused, “Get that taken care of.”

“...Be careful,” Quentin said softly, “All I got….”

Tony was up, trying to go as fast as he could to get to his suit. He had to call Pepper but the suit was the first thing on his list. He hurried to it and took a breath as he got in the suit. The suit wasn’t going to powerful, but maybe it would be enough for the time. He wasn’t exactly sure what Obadiah had up his sleeve, but it was probably awful. He shot out of the room and really just hoped that Quentin would get his ass to a doctor. He had to get Pepper out of danger now. He managed to intercept Obadiah in a huge ass robot suit that looked a lot like his in the desert but a little more advanced. Of course, if he’d had his reactor, this thing wouldn’t have been a match for him, but he could deal with it. Or at least that was what he thought. At first it was somewhat evenly matched until he was being smashed underneath the thing’s foot and he couldn’t get out of this man’s grip. He scrambled out of the wreckage of a truck that he’d been thrown into. Obadiah had a car full of kids in his arms and Tony did everything he could to catch it so they weren’t hurt. And then they fucking ran him over. He groaned as he slowly got to his feet. He glanced up. “Jarvis, how much power do we got?”

“Not enough for whatever you’re thinking.”

“Let’s do it then,” Tony took off from the ground. If he could get Obadiah high enough, the ice could do its work. It had on him. Hopefully the old man didn’t have reflexes like he did. Obadiah was following him and he kept going. He was faster….he felt a hand grab his foot and he tried to keep from panicking as he brought right up next to the guy. 

“My suit is more evolved than yours in every way?”

“Then how’d you solve the icing problem?” Tony managed as he kicked himself away from him.

“Ice…?”

Tony let out a breath as the suit shut down and Obadiah went spiraling downward. Thank god. Oh shit. He had almost no power left. He felt himself falling and he managed to occasionally stop himself to slow his momentum. His landing wasn’t the most graceful. He glanced around and took a breath, slowly taking off the mask. Until someone grabbed him and he was thrown again. Fuck. 

“Nice try, Tony.”

Tony gasped as he landed. Oh this was so shitty. He tried to fight but his suit had almost no power. Obadiah grabbed him and started to crush his suit in. He could feel everything starting to break. This kind of sucked as a way to die. He struggled and was about to call for the flares in his suit when something slammed into Obadiah and Tony crashed to the ground. He wheezed and got up, his suit falling apart around him. He had to get out of this. He contacted Pepper and tried to explain everything to her quickly so she could get rid of this guy for good. He still wasn’t sure what exactly had hit Obadiah, but the suit was back and Tony knew he needed one more go with him. He reached up and got on top of him, trying to rip as much out of the robot as he could. He managed to get something before he was thrown down and landed right in the way of where the reactor was going to blast out. He cursed but Obadiah was blocking his only way out of the way. He had to get closer….somehow he’d lucked out and ripped out the targeting system in the suit. Good thing that Obadiah’s aim sucked ass. He got closer and Tony slipped through the broken glass and held onto the metal bars. “Pepper blow it….”

“You told me not to.”

“Just do it,” Tony insisted, “Now please!”

Just as he heard her say that she would, someone grabbed him and pulled him up just out of the way of the blast. He gasped as he was held tightly by something metal. He glanced down to see Obadiah getting the full blast of the reactor. He let out a slow sigh of relief and just held onto whoever or whatever had saved his life. He glanced up and recognized the pure silver suit that he had. Son of a bitch. They landed safely on the ground and Tony held onto the suit for a moment before letting go. He glanced up as he heard the click of the mask being removed. Quentin looked down at him and managed a slight grimace.

“You alright?”

“Yeah….what’re you doing in this thing?”

“Saving your ass, I think,” Quentin looked at him, “Where’s my thanks?”

“You’re never getting that,” Tony shook his head.

Quentin gave him a small smile, “Is Stane gone?”

“Yeah...we won’t have to worry about him anymore. Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Quentin nodded, “I can see straight so…”

Tony rolled his eyes.

“We need to get you to a doctor though,” Quentin nodded.

“I’m fine,” Tony muttered, “I need to make a new reactor is what I need to do.”

“Hey, you go see a doctor, I’ll do it.”

“What?”

“I’ll make it,” Quentin nodded, “I was with you when you made the other one...I can do it.”

“If you fuck it up, it’ll kill me.”

“I won’t fuck it up.”

“Alright, go ahead,” Tony nodded, “Go make it.”

Quentin nodded slightly and he got Tony inside to Pepper before leaving. Tony watched him go. He was good in a suit. Tony was quite sure he’d never gotten Quentin into one of them before...but he seemed really comfortable. He just sighed and followed Pepper. He was exhausted and he really wanted to get a good night’s sleep. He’d have to most likely talk to the press. 

..

After the big reveal that he was Iron Man, he decided to lay low for a while. He was really worn out and he just needed a break. Quentin had done a good job making his replacement arc reactor for him and they’d fallen into their regular work schedule again. He was focused more on working on his suits than he’d ever been. He really wanted to figure out some new improvements on them so they were more powerful. He needed a contingency for every scenario. A lot of his first suits had ended up with Quentin rolling on the floor in laughter while Dum-E extinguished him when he wasn’t even on fire. That robot really needed to be fixed. 

“Are you absolutely sure about this….?” Quentin looked at him. Tony grinned at his partner who was in a green and gold painted suit, standing next to him.

“Absolutely,” Tony grinned, “It’s just one little race around the world.”

“Last time you raced around the world, you almost got shot out of the sky by the military,” Quentin pointed out.

“Just shut up and fly with me,” Tony started his thrusters and took off into the sky. He heard the rumble behind him and assumed that Quentin had followed him into the air. He smiled and turned so the other man could fly next to him.

“The mask is just so ugly,” Quentin commented, “You need to redesign.”

“Oh stop,” Tony groaned. He did a spiral and watched Quentin follow him.

“How high do these go?” Quentin asked.

“As high as you want,” Tony laughed softly, “Now, I think we have an Expo to announce at. You want to make a big entrance?”

“I’ve never been one for big entrances.”

“Of course you haven’t,” Tony smiled.

“I enter in the back and sorta watch.”

“That changes today.”

“Stark…”

“Come on, Beck, you’ll love it,” Tony grinned and reached to grab his arm, “Let’s go make an appearance.”

Quentin groaned but Tony was glad when he reluctantly followed him.

“You don’t even have to take your mask off, okay?”

“Fine,” Quentin agreed. Tony smiled and took off towards where the Expo was opening. He was just glad things were starting to return to normal. He’d just try to deal with the blood toxicity that was slowly rising. He had been working on it without Quentin’s knowledge so the other man didn’t find out. He didn’t want anybody worrying about him. If he was going to die, then only he would know when.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

It became a thing after that first mission. The suit wasn’t the best at first but Tony had really fixed it up and it was better now. Nick Fury had talked to him about the Avengers Initiative which as of right now he wasn’t too excited about. He did his own thing and people were constantly trying to track him down and take his stuff. And now he’d died almost twice and he really was not looking forward to going through that again. But he liked being Iron Man. He got away with whatever he wanted. He’d appointed Pepper as the CEO of Stark Industries because he trusted her to do a good job. It was all starting to work out alright. That is, until Phil Coulson from SHIELD showed up with Pepper the one evening with a folder that Tony remembered from when Nick Fury had confronted him for the first time. His evening that he was supposed to have with Pepper was ruined. He had a lot to do. So naturally, he called his annoying partner to come up and help him. Quentin wandered in about a half hour later.

“Why didn’t you just ask your CEO to help you, huh?” the younger man’s voice rang out from the other side of the room. Tony rolled his eyes. It was no secret that Quentin was incredibly annoyed by Tony’s decision. 

“Are you ever going to let that go?”

“I just don’t understand what your thinking was,” Quentin replied. He wandered over and picked up the folder to flip through it, “She’s your assistant and your girlfriend.”

And you’re my employee,” Tony shot back, “Can you just leave it?”

“No, I’m over qualified to be the CEO,” Quentin looked at him, “I have so many plans…”

“Yeah, and I don’t trust your plans, which is a reason I didn’t give you that position.”

Quentin made a face and then held up the folder, “The hell is this?”

“Avengers Initiative,” Tony sighed, “It looks like there’s some shit going down.”

“What kind of shit?”

“Like end of the world as we know it, shit,” Tony nodded, “So we have to background check everyone and get a headstart.”

“This is going to be the most boring night of my life.” 

Tony sighed and pulled up the files of everyone in the folder on his screens. He began scrolling through them. He needed to be ahead of the game with them. He wanted to know everything. He glanced over at Quentin, “Take out anything that’s important and compile it in one thing.”

“Yes, sir,” Quentin mumbled and Tony caught the sarcasm dripping from it. He shook his head and got back to work. Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton. He’d met Natasha before. The archer was the one who was compromised at that moment. So they had four. Four people to fight a worldwide threat. Banner probably counted as three or four people. He was looking forward to having another scientist to work with at least. After a full night of drinking and figuring out the motives behind everyone and what they could do, Tony felt relatively comfortable with them. He was laying on one of his lab tables while Quentin was reclined in his desk chair, his head hanging over the back to look at him.

“What?” Tony looked at him.

“Do people call me names?” Quentin asked.

“What, like retard?” Tony asked.

Quentin stared at him, “Yeah.”

Tony paused for a moment and then shook his head, “Nope.”

Quentin huffed, “Who does?”

“No one,” Tony insisted.

“Somebody does.”

“I don’t think they actually said it.”

“It was implied though?”

“Possibly.”

“Who was it?”

“Kent from the lab downstairs could’ve possibly started it.”

Quentin huffed him, “I don’t like him anyway.”

“The feeling might be mutual.”

“Oh shut the fuck up.”

Tony grinned and slowly sat up, “I gotta get to the meeting...I might not be back for a while. Try not to blow anything up, okay?”

“I won’t,” Quentin huffed, “I can’t do much anyway since I’m not the CEO.”

Tony groaned, “While I’m gone see if you can get over that already.”

Quentin flipped him off as Tony headed out of the lab.

..

Tony couldn’t believe he was standing in the middle of New York with the other five Avengers as aliens came down from a huge portal in the sky over his tower. Steve was giving out orders, Tony knew he needed to get his better suit from the tower but he was ninety percent sure Loki was up there. After he dropped Hawkeye off on the top of one of the buildings, he headed to his tower. He tried to relax a little as he landed and took his armor off. He wandered inside and gave Loki a small smile as he wandered in.

Loki moved towards him, “Please tell me you’re going to appeal to my humanity.”

“Ah,” Tony walked down the steps, “I’m here to threaten you, actually.”

“You should’ve left your armor on for that.”

Tony shrugged, “You’ve got the upper hand anyway. Do you want a drink?”

“Stalling me won’t change anything.”

“No, no, no,” Tony shook his head, “Threatening.”

Loki looked at him, “What have I to fear?”

“The Avengers,” Tony poured himself a drink. When he saw the god of mischief was confused he shook his head, “It’s what we call ourselves. Earth’s mightiest heroes and all that.”

“Ah, yes I’ve met them,” Loki nodded, “Annoying.”

Tony gave him a smile, “True. But let’s do a headcount here, your brother, the demigod. A super soldier, living legend, who kind of lives up to the legend. A man with breathtaking anger management issues. A couple of master assassins and you, my friend, have managed to piss off every single one of them.”

“That was the plan.”

Tony nodded as he walked over to him. He’d slipped his bracelets on for his suit. “Not a great plan because when they come, they’ll come for you.”

“I have an army.”

“We have a Hulk,” Tony cut him off, “There is no version of this where you come out on top.”

Loki approached him, wielding that glowing spear of his and Tony was really hoping his plan was going to work. If not, he might really be fucked. “How will your friends be fighting me, when they’ll be too busy fighting you?”

Tony tried not to look too alarmed as Loki moved the tip of his spear to his chest. The clink of metal was heard in the empty room. Loki frowned and glanced down, “Checking me out?”

“Why isn’t it working?” 

“Faulty technology,” Tony shrugged, “It happens a lot, honestly. Maybe you should-”

He was cut off when Loki grabbed him around the throat and lifted him up. Shit. This wasn’t part of the plan. 

“Mr. Stark?!”

Fuck, that wasn’t part of the plan either. Loki turned to look over at the door and Tony managed to glance over to see Quentin standing there, shock on his face.

“Boyfriend?” Loki asked Tony.

“Oh absolutely not,” Tony managed.

“I’ll fucking kill him myself for even implying that,” Quentin crossed his arms.

“Beck, now is not the time,” Tony choked out and Loki tossed him across the room and he landed right by the window. Shit. 

“I’m guessing he doesn’t have a metal piece in his chest does he?” Loki asked. Tony cursed and clicked the button on his bracelet to get the suit to launch.

“He does. The guy’s literally made out of metal,” Tony tried to keep his voice calm. He gestured to Quentin to get out of the fucking room. 

Loki smirked at Quentin, “I could show you a few things…”

Tony stood up and went to move forward but a blast from Loki sent him flying backwards and right out the window. SHIT. This was not going how he’d planned. “Come on, come on, come on.”

He held out his arms and he felt the armor closing around his body as he fell off the tower. He took a breath and then the helmet closed. He had full control. He stopped his fall and flew back up, heading towards the tower again. He saw Thor and Loki now in a full fight as he passed. He didn’t know what had happened with Beck. He took a breath and sent him a text. 

‘If you’re still here. Get a comm.’

A few minutes later he heard static and Quentin’s voice appeared.

“I think I’m going to throw up.”

“Who the fuck is that?” Barton’s voice came over the comm.

“Language,” Steve called, “Tony, what’s going on?”

“He’s my assistant,” Tony said quickly, “Are you alright?”

“I think so.”

“You don’t feel like you want to kill everyone and shit, right?”

“I always feel like that.”

Tony sighed, “Alright, good. You’re fine. Listen to me, you need to get to a lower level of the tower. Stay away from the windows got it?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m completely far away from the crazy god.”

“Okay, good,” Tony flew up past the tower and scanned, showing that Quentin was indeed telling the truth. “Now, don’t do anything stupid. And toss the comm.”

“Fine, I’ll leave you to your private conversations. By the way, Captain America’s overrated.”

There was a cut of static and Quentin disappeared. 

“I have a question,” Steve said.

“Uh….he was kidding,” Tony said, “Focus on the aliens, Cap.”

“Right, right,” Steve replied.

“Your assistant takes after you, Stark,” Natasha’s voice came over the comm, “I couldn’t even tell you two apart.”

“I hate you,” Tony fired at a few aliens, “Where’s Banner?”

“Probably breaking something,” Natasha replied, “Or many things.”

“Right…,” Tony watched the giant things come down from the space portal and he took a breath, “Alright, I’m going to deal with that….”

“Have fun.”

Tony flew over by the giant flying thing that was dispatching Chitari as it flew by. He took a breath and fired at it, “Jarvis find a weak spot.”

He watched as he was given a view of the internal structure and a few points that would weaken it. Inside. Shit, that was not an easy one. He kept flying, leading the thing around the city so it didn’t crash into as much stuff as it could. 

“Hey, where are you guys at?” he asked as he fired at it again and then took off.

“A few blocks from your tower,” Steve replied, “Why?”

“I’m bringing the party to you,” Tony rounded the corner with the giant ship following him. He saw Natasha and Steve down on the ground.

“I don’t see how that’s a party.” Natasha said. Tony grinned and flew by them just as Banner made an appearance and grabbed the thing, steering it off course and dragging it down to the ground. 

“See? It was fun!” Tony smiled as he flew off again to find the next one. He shot straight into the thing’s mouth this time, using little bombs to set off the thing’s weak points and destroying it. He looked up at the portal. There were so many more coming.

“Tony,” Steve said, “We’ve got a missile headed for the city.”

Tony frowned, “Leave it to me.”

He knew they couldn’t let that thing blow up in the city. So many people were here that would be hurt. He knew exactly where to put it. 

“Get that spear and shut the portal,” Tony said as he flew towards where the missile was. He heard Natasha reply that she was on it and he headed to intercept the missile. He flew around it so he could get to the bottom of it. He grabbed onto it and winced.

“Mr. Stark,” Quentin’s voice rang out over the comm, “What’re you doing?”

“Hey Q,” Tony said softly, “Can you get Pepper for me and tell her to get her phone?”

“Uh...okay,” Quentin replied.

“And log off this comm please,” Tony said quickly. Quentin promised he would and vanished again. Tony took a breath and accelerated towards the portal. He flew by Natasha waiting by the portal with Dr. Selvig. He held onto it as he made sure that it went straight for the huge ship on the other side of the portal. 

“Would you like me to call Ms. Potts, sir?”

“Yeah,” Tony said softly as Jarvis dialed Pepper’s number. There was no answer. He took a breath and let go of the missile as he floated slowly through space. He watched the missile fly forward and hit the huge ship, an explosion appearing in front of his eyes. He closed his eyes as the force of it flung him backwards. He hoped to god that they’d closed the portal. He drifted into unconsciousness. 

..

Tony had woken up to the Hulk screaming in his face and Steve kneeling next to him. They’d won. They had to take care of Loki and Thor took him back to Asgard to pay for his crimes. Tony was just glad that they weren’t all dead and New York was relatively still intact. Of course the Hulk was a little uncontrollable but the threat was defeated. They could relax a little. Tony wanted to focus more attention on his suits for sure, especially if something else like this was going to happen again. But for now, he was going to take a break. He and the rest of the Avengers had gone to grab food in a broken down diner. He knew Steve was going to be working with the citizens to help rebuild stuff. Tony needed to fix his tower. He couldn’t believe all of the letters had fallen off except for the A. He stood on the balcony with Quentin as the two of them drank one night.

“It’s kind of oddly fitting, I guess,” Quentin shrugged, “You guys are the Avengers and Stark Tower is the property of the biggest hero in the world, right? So like it’s a big symbol. Avengers Tower.”

“You’re ridiculous,” Tony sighed, “I need to get it fixed. I’ll bring some of the engineers up here in a few days…”

“Uh huh,” Quentin sipped his drink, “So what was that guy, Loki, trying to do to you?”

“Turn me into a mindless killing machine, I think,” Tony nodded, “I’m just glad he didn’t get you, as much as I would’ve wanted to hit you really hard in the head.”

Quentin huffed, “He’s interesting. The magic or whatever he has is pretty impressive.”

“Don’t idolize villains.”

“I’m not.”

“What engineers are around?”

“I don’t know,” Quentin shrugged, “A lot of them left when this tower became a portal for a space alien attack.”

“Kent’s an engineer,” Tony glanced at him, “Have you seen your buddy, recently?”

“He’s dead,” Quentin replied, “One of those things got into the lab downstairs and killed a couple of them before the Hulk leaped in and flung it out the window.”

Tony sighed, “Finding talented engineers might be hard….”

“I can do it,” Quentin hummed, “I say we tear down the A and put my name up instead.”

“Beck Tower?” Tony looked at him, “That sounds really stupid.”

“And Stark Tower sounds any better?”

“A lot better. Remind me to not let you name anything.”

Quentin rolled his eyes and finished his drink, “I’m telling you, just leave it as the A.”

“We’ll see,” Tony looked at the single letter on his tower. Maybe it was kind of cool that way. He didn’t want to give Beck the satisfaction of being right. He’d just say that he couldn’t get a team big enough to do it and just leave it as is. It would be fine. 

“I have some work to do,” Quentin stretched as he pushed back from the railing, “Don’t fall off the balcony, Iron Man.”

“I hope you trip down the stairs.”

“Taking the elevator.”

“I hope you get stuck for an hour.”

He heard Quentin snort and then the door shut behind the other man and Tony was alone. He had a feeling that he’d have a lot of new things that would be haunting his nightmares. So the alcohol would have to start being his crutch again. Sometimes passing out didn’t even help. He decided that he’d need to start that work on his new suits even quicker than he’d originally planned.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

_He opened the doors to the penthouse of his tower and looked around. It was covered in rubble. The top of the tower had collapsed in on it. And they were all here. Steve, Clint, Natasha, Thor….how had he screwed up so badly? How could he have let all of this happen? Maybe if he was better, they’d still be alive. A voice echoed around him, one that was somewhat familiar but he couldn’t place who it was._

_“Why didn’t you save them?”_

_“I tried….”_

_“You failed all of them.”_

_Tony squeezed his eyes shut to try and snap himself out of this image but it didn’t go away. When he opened his eyes, he was facing Quentin Beck. But not the current Quentin Beck, the eighteen year old Quentin Beck. He swallowed hard. “What’re you doing here, kid?”_

_“Mr. Stark…,” Quentin looked at him, “Help me, I’m stuck…”_

_Tony realized now that the boy’s leg was trapped underneath one of the pieces of the tower that was laying. If he couldn’t save all his friends he had to be able to save Quentin...he took a few steps forward. It was like he’d triggered a tripwire. There was a flash of gold and then the golden scepter that Loki wielded was buried deep into the boy’s body. But it wasn’t Loki wielding it. It was himself._

_“Mr. Stark….!”_

Tony jerked awake and took a breath. He had been having the most fucked up dreams lately. Quentin was standing over him with a slightly disgusted look on his face.

“I was about to dunk you,” Quentin said, holding up his cup of water.

Tony looked at him and blinked a few times. Quentin was wearing a turtleneck and black pants. His hair was styled and long and he had a beard. Okay, good. He was awake and not still stuck in his dream. “Fuck you.”

“Good morning, too, honey,” Quentin rolled his eyes. “Pepper made me bring you coffee.”

Tony sighed and took the cup from him. “If you ever call me ‘honey’ again, you’re fired.”

“Oh, I’m terrified,” Quentin gave him a small smile, “You won’t fire me. You need me.”

‘What for? To get me coffee?”

“Yep,” Quentin crossed his arms, “Now, aren’t you supposed to be having some sort of Avengers party tonight?”

“I guess so,” Tony sighed, “And it’s not an Avengers party, it’s a company party so you’re invited if you want. All the Avengers are just coming.”

“Oh, I’m honored. I actually think I’m going to work instead.”

“Alright, whatever you want.”

“Are you still doing that weird shit with that scepter?”

“I promise, it’s almost out of here.”

“The thing bothers me.”

“It’s really advanced technology,” Tony nodded, “And I only get a few days with it.”

“How’re those suits doing?”

“One of them came back covered in shit.”

“That’s pretty bad.”

“Yeah,” Tony admitted, “But I need a suit that’s ready for any scenario...I’ve been through way too many different things.”

“Have you ever thought about giving up the whole Iron Man thing?”

“You can’t just walk out of the Avengers gig.”

“You like it.”

“I do,” Tony nodded, “We’re making a difference.”

Quentin rolled his eyes, “Ugh, whatever. Get your ass up so you don’t look like shit later.”

Tony gave him a light shove and got off the couch. He went to go shower and clean up for the party later on. He went down to supervise the setup for it and then people started filing in. He and Bruce had been working on the scepter again and he was really counting on it working. It would be amazing if it did work. As the party got under way, he just made his way around, meeting up with his other Avenger friends who seemed to be enjoying the party more than he was. He even caught a few glimpses of Quentin wandering around occasionally.   
He wasn’t sure how they all ended up in his penthouse on the couches betting on who would be able to lift Thor’s hammer. He was sitting on the couch by Rhodey and Steve while Clint lounged in one of the chairs. 

“It’s a trick, man,” Clint insisted.

“Give it a try, if you want,” Thor nodded.

“Yeah, go for it Clint. Since you’re injured we won’t give you a hard time if you can’t get it up,” Tony smiled and Clint rolled his eyes but got out of the chair to try. The hammer didn’t even budge when the archer pulled on it. There was laughter and then it became a game.

“Banner, you try.”

Tony snorted as Bruce strained to try and lift it with the same result, “Here, I got it.”

He got up and switched the glove of his armor on. He pulled on it and frowned when it wouldn’t move.

“Rhodey, help me out, man.”

His friend got off the couch and came to try and help him lift it but it just wouldn’t move. Thor was laughing at them and Tony shook his head after he gave up. 

“Cap, you try it.”

Steve got off the couch and braced himself to try and lift the hammer. Of course, he couldn’t do it either. After a few minutes as they relaxed back on the couches, more conversations came up.

“So what if we put it in an elevator?” Tony asked, “And tried to make it go up?”

“Elevator’s not worthy,” Steve shook his head slightly.

“And you can’t move it with a truck? What if you put it on the seat of a car?”

“I bet it just goes through the seat, right?”

“So is the Earth worthy? Because it doesn’t just fall to the middle of the Earth every time you set it down.”

“We really shouldn’t drink when we discuss this.”

There was a weird noise from the other side of the room and Tony glanced over. He frowned. Was that….his suit?

“Uh, Tony, what is that?”

Tony frowned as the thing started talking. He glanced at Bruce, “Did that work….?”

“It might have….”

They were cut off when a couple other bots of armor stormed in and opened fire. Tony dove under the table. He saw Steve run up to the walkway that overlooked the room. Clint had slid over to a desk and ducked behind it. Bruce was behind a couch as well. Natasha had ducked behind the bar. Thor was trying to fight one of them off. Tony adjusted his suit and fired at one of the other bots and then moved to try and avoid getting shot. Steve was fighting one of them up on the second level.

“Did your super bot create super bots?” Bruce asked. 

“I have no idea what is going on,” Tony admitted as he shot a blast at the robot again. Tony saw Thor send his hammer flying towards the main bot and it fell apart. “Okay...good.”

“We have to figure out what happened right away,” Bruce frowned. Tony nodded and ran up to the lab he and Bruce had been working on. He stared. Jarvis was really fucked up. He’d never seen something like that. He really was lost at where to even start. Any traces of Ultron had vanished and he had moved on to somewhere else. Jarvis was corrupted. What did he do with all this?

“Tony, you need to fix this.”

He really did.

..

“So it was all your fault, huh?” Quentin hummed as they worked. Tony sighed softly. He hadn’t talked to Quentin until after the whole floating world catastrophe. After Ultron was defeated, Tony finally felt comfortable telling him. Too bad he hadn’t gotten the warm reception he usually did.

“You went straight to that one,” Tony replied.

“Well let’s see,” Quentin hummed as he worked, “You wanted to put robots all over the world and you used the same shit that Loki tried to turn people into mindless killing machines. Smart.”

“It would be safer that way.”

“You’re getting plenty of recruits,” Quentin looked at him, “You don’t need robotic armor. One of you is enough.”

“It might not be one day.”

“Oh, believe me,” Quentin hummed, “We’d have a whole mess on our hands with two Tony Starks.”

Tony smacked him gently on the back of the head.

“Fuck you, man.”

“What are you even working on?” Tony looked at him, “You won’t show me.”

Quentin looked at him, “You’re interested in what I’m working on?”

“Don’t act like that. I’ve asked plenty of times but you’re so secretive about it. So of course I had to look when you were asleep and I think it’s pretty brilliant but I want to see what advancements you’ve made on it.”

Quentin’s jaw dropped, “You stalked my project?”

“Yes, yes, I did,” Tony nodded.

“You’re unbelievable.”

“Come on, show me,” Tony nudged him, “I need something fun after this whole mess.”

“Mess that you made,” Quentin added as he got up, “Okay...there are still glitches.”

“Of course. I’ll perfect it for you.”

“I can perfect it myself.”

Tony stood back, “Let’s see it.”

“Where do you want to go?”

“Just pick.”

Quentin nodded and set up a few things before turning the tech on and typing something into his computer. The room shimmered away and Tony was standing in the streets outside. Chitari were flying around, some getting so close that Tony instinctively moved out of the way.

“Not my first choice of location, but that’s pretty cool.”

“I’m better at just using still illusions right now but….I think the movement will come soon. The Chitari were a little glitchy…”

Tony nodded, “I’ll help. God knows I shouldn’t be doing my own solo projects for a little while.”

“That’s true,” Quentin hummed. He shut down the illusion and turned off the stuff.

“Why’re you so mad at me?”

“I’m not mad at you,” Quentin shrugged, “I just think you should step back.”

“From what?”

“Everything. You obviously can’t be trusted to do anything after you almost let the world get destroyed.”

Tony clenched his jaw, “And you can?”

“I can more than you. The world doesn’t need you anymore.”

“I think you’re wrong about that.”

“Of course you do, your head is bigger than this fucking building,” Quentin looked at him, “Stop acting like you aren’t the problem.”

“Stop acting like a prick.”

Tony stepped closer to him, “You might think I’m the problem in this world, but there are a million people out, more than that, who are alive because of me and the others tonight. So you tell them your theory.”

“And what about the ones who are dead?” Quentin looked at him, “You’re no hero.”

Tony glared at him. He’d never had such a...bad argument with him. The other man wasn’t backing down from him. “I think you need a break.”

Quentin clenched his jaw, “I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not,” Tony finally stepped back from him. “Take a week of vacation.”

“And go where?”

“Anywhere. But you’re not allowed to step foot in this building,” Tony replied, “I’ve paid you very well over the years, you can afford a week hotel.”

Quentin stared at him, “You can’t do that?”

“Would you rather not be allowed back ever?”

Quentin clenched his jaw and then huffed, “Fine.” 

“Pack your shit and get out of here by tonight. I’ll know,” Tony turned away and headed for the door.

“Getting rid of your problems doesn’t mean they won’t come back to bite you in the ass,” Quentin called after him.

“I’ll take my chances,” Tony replied, as he shut the door. He took a breath to calm down and then headed to the penthouse. He needed a drink and he needed to be away from Quentin for a while. He knew that they disagreed on certain things but it had never gotten that bad apart from the fight at the testing range. He knew that the whole Ultron thing fell on him because he’d wanted to create him. His intentions weren’t to have a murderous robot, just someone to protect people that he couldn’t. He didn’t know if he’d ever made a smart decision. Everything he did seemed to come back at him. He never knew if he did anything right. He just needed some time to himself to think and to plan what he wanted to do in the future. But right now, he just really needed a drink


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Tony had distanced himself from Quentin even while they finalized the illusion technology that Quentin had been working on. He was planning on presenting their project at a presentation at MIT. They’d run it through a few tests and it had done well. Quentin had been eager to go with him to the presentation, less happy to find out he wasn’t actually going to be in it. Tony had told him that it had more impact being presented by him. It took a lot of convincing to get him to agree but they set it up and then Tony made his last few changes to what he wanted to show. Once the presentation began, Tony just waited, watching the last time he had seen his parents alive. He still regretted not being nice to them. If only he’d known. He waited as the scene played out and then paused it before slowly stepping into the scene. It was incredibly realistic. They’d done a good job. 

“Binarily Augmented Retro-Framing…..or BARF,” Tony smiled at the crowd, “I gotta work on that…” there was some laughter, “An extremely costly method of high-jacking the hippocampus to clear traumatic memories.” He attempted to blow out the candle on the table but it didn’t even flinch until he clicked the remote and the scene began to vanish. “Of course it doesn’t change the fact that it happened.” 

He moved out of the illusion as it finished up and he talked directly to the crowd of students, watching the words on the screen appearing so he could give a good presentation. He promised that he’d fund all of the student’s projects and then paused when he saw that he was supposed to introduce Pepper. She wasn’t here. He sighed softly and shook his head.

“Go break some eggs.”

He sighed as he headed off stage, avoiding the people who came up to him. He just needed some air. He and Pepper weren’t on the best of terms right now. He headed out of the room and got down to a hallway. He ran a hand through his hair. This was just getting to be a little bit much. He walked slowly down the hall and almost ran into a woman who was waiting by the elevator. They talked for a little and for some reason, Tony got the notion that she didn’t really like him. He clicked the elevator button.

“You going up?”

“I’m right where I want to be,” the woman replied. She reached into her purse and on instinct Tony quickly grabbed her wrist. Was she going to try and kill him? He wasn’t ready for that at all. Thankfully that wasn’t the case. It was a photo of her son. And Tony felt his heart drop when she told him that it was his fault that the kid wasn’t around anymore. It DID matter to him, it really did. He felt awful about Ultron, about Sokovia. He tried so hard to make up for it but when the reality hit him, he realized that he couldn’t ever. People blamed him for what happened, maybe he really wasn’t a hero. He needed a drink. He spent the ride back to his tower in silence. Quentin had gone back early. He slowly made his way up to the penthouse. He really, really needed to get a drink. He was probably going to drink until he passed out tonight and then get ready to meet with the rest of the Avengers in a few days. He needed to address this issue with them. He didn’t know if they could all keep doing this. He really didn’t want to argue with them, but they had to see reason, didn’t they? He hoped so. When he got to the penthouse, he jumped slightly when he saw someone was already there. Quentin was standing, staring out the window. He was stiff and Tony had never seen someone standing so still.

“Q.”

“Tony.”

Tony wasn’t sure what exactly was going on here. He went to pour himself a drink, “I’ve had a hell of a day. I hope you don’t mind if I drink a little?”

Quentin turned slightly and Tony paused. He’d never seen that expression on Quentin’s face. “Drink all you want.”

He looked dangerous. Tony had seen Quentin pissed off or angry but never actually dangerous. Now he looked dangerous.

“What’s your problem?” Tony frowned as he took a sip of his drink. That did it.

“BARF, Tony?” Quentin choked out, “BARF?”

“What?”

“I’ve worked on this for my entire life and you make it out to be some kind of fucking joke?!”

“I said it was a working acronym. Is Binarily Augmented Retro-Framing not what this is? We’ll figure it out.”

“You made a fool out of my life’s work!” Quentin snapped, “I’ve spent my life on this, this was my project and you name it something like THAT?!”

“It’s just a name, Beck,” Tony said shortly, “We’ll figure it out.”

“No, I’LL figure it out,” Quentin snarled, “And none of this therapy shit either. You don’t understand the things you can do with this. This is technology that can change the world, if we weaponized it we could do so much it.”

“We don’t make weapons anymore, Beck,” Tony shook his head, “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you that.”

“Your personal projects are weapons,” Quentin replied, “Your suits. Fuck, you’re a weapon, Tony.”

“Shut up, we aren’t doing this now,” Tony shook his head.

“Then when are we going to do it?” Quentin snapped, “This is my work, I get to decide what I want to do with it.”

“This is the company's work,” Tony said, meeting his gaze, “It’s done with my research, my technology, my resources. So it will be fit to my rules, or you won’t be advancing it anymore.”

“BullSHIT!” Tony ducked out of the way as Quentin threw his glass from across the room and it shattered on the wall behind Tony. “I’m not letting you use something like this so you can deal with the fact that you were a shit son. Who fucking cares about that? People want something that’s incredible. I can give them that!”

“You’ll start the next world war is what you’ll do,” Tony shook his head, “I will not weaponize that technology. If you can’t deal with that then…”

“Then what?” Quentin snarled, breathing heavily, “What’re you gonna do Stark?”

Tony looked at him. He wanted to go back in time for just a moment. Because once again he’d made a mistake. The night of that party, he’d screwed up again. He ran a hand through his hair. It was going to kill him to do this. “You’re fired.”

It got quiet. Tony swore he could hear the sound of the air. 

“What?” Quentin’s voice was dangerously low.

“You’re fired,” Tony repeated, “All rights you had to things here will be handed over to me because you’re too unstable to be trusted with it outside of the industry.”

“UNSTABLE?” Quentin stormed towards him. Right before he reached him, the room went completely black and Quentin disappeared in it as well. Tony looked around, but it was like he was standing in a world of darkness. There was no outline of furniture or light from the window. Something wasn’t right. He took a cautious step and then a light appeared above him. It lit him up and he paused. At least he could see. “You always wanted to be the one in the spotlight. How do you like it now?”

Tony looked around, looking for Quentin but seeing nothing. The light intensified and he winced, trying to look away from it but it was surrounding him. He closed his eyes. That was the wrong choice as a fist collided with his head and he stumbled backwards. He opened his eyes and the world was changed again. 

“Therapy,” Quentin’s voice echoed. “You’ll need that after I’m through with you. You’ll be driven mad by your imagination.” 

Tony got to his feet and looked around as his suits surrounded him. He reached for his watch to turn on his own suit for some protection. He didn’t know where Quentin was. They all stepped forward at the same time and closed in on him. One of them reached for him and he jumped back and the one he bumped into, hit him. He winced as he ended up on the ground again. He looked up and was in the middle of a lab in his tower. He watched Quentin enter the room, a gun in his hand. There were only a few people in the room and Tony felt his heartbeat speed up as he saw Quentin raise the gun and shoot one of the scientists. Kent. 

“You really believed every word that rolled off my tongue, didn’t you?” the illusion of Beck turned towards him before aiming the gun straight at him, “You’re even more pathetic than I thought.”

Tony didn’t care if it was an illusion. He blasted it out of existence. He tried to move, not exactly sure where he was going, but he needed to get out of this illusion. 

“You loved it, didn’t you?” Quentin’s voice showed up again and Tony ducked to avoid something fly over his head. When he looked back up he was faced with eighteen year old Beck, “You loved that you got to play ‘dad’ with me for a while. Did it make you feel like you weren’t all those things the people called you behind your back? Did you like escaping into that fantasy world?”

The illusion was walking towards him and Tony held up his hand to aim at it but he couldn’t. 

“It’s not a fantasy anymore,” Quentin snarled at him, “You need to WAKE UP!” 

Tony held up his hands to stop the blow but it never came. He felt like he was going crazy. This was his own tech, he could figure it out. Everything was an illusion, but Quentin was in here, most likely trying to get him vulnerable enough to either kill him or severely injure him. And then the scene changed again. And he was back in the penthouse. He took a deep breath and saw Quentin standing there. The other man was glaring at him, standing in front of the door. There was movement from behind the glass and then a shot. Quentin crumbled to the ground, gasping as blood started to flow onto the floor. Tony swallowed, “Don’t kill him…”

“He was trying to kill you.”

“Just don’t.”

One of the guards looked at him and then shook his head, “You’re so ridiculous.”

“What?” Tony looked at him. 

“That’s why,” the security guard shimmered and then Quentin stood there with a gun, “You have to go.”

Tony felt the shot and he gasped softly. He looked around and then reached out, shooting towards one of the falters and the illusion fell apart. The tech hadn’t been perfect. Quentin was still standing there, looking angry but a little less confident. Tony panted softly and looked at him. Quentin aimed quickly at him again and Tony couldn’t even think. It was an instinct reaction. He shot at him. Quentin crumpled to the ground, letting out a cry of pain. Tony staggered to his feet, breathing shakily, “You need to get out of here. I’ll give you one chance, before I call the cops. Get out and don’t come back. If I see you around here again, I won’t stop.”

Quentin wheezed softly and turned to look at him, “Fuck. You.”

“Are you going?”

“I’d be going much faster if you hadn’t shot me.”

Tony waited until Quentin was up on his feet, “Don’t take anything with you.”

“What about my stuff?”

“You have enough money to buy new stuff.”

Quentin glared at him and then turned, “You’ll regret this.”

Tony didn’t answer. He watched the man that he’d considered a very close friend walk out on him. He seemed to regret everything he did, so if he ended up doing that it wouldn’t be surprising. Everything in his world was falling apart in front of him.

“Sir, you have a meeting.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m coming.”

..

Steve was recruiting so Tony knew he needed someone as well. Somebody new that could throw off their game. He hadn’t really been able to focus on much since the big fight in the tower. But he knew he needed to. If he was going to lead his team, he had to be in the right spot. He knew Natasha could tell something was wrong with him, but she didn’t ask and for that he was incredibly grateful. He was on his way down to Queens right now. He’d done his research and he respected the kid for what he did. It wasn’t his best idea of all time, but it would work for this. Then the kid could go back to doing whatever he did. When he got there, the boy wasn’t there, so he just talked to his aunt who was very nice to him. He had come up with the cover story that the kid was getting an internship at Stark Industries. It was a little close to a somewhat recent experience but he was trying not to let that bother him. The kid was definitely surprised to see him and after making sure he didn’t say anything too stupid, he went to the kid’s room with him. 

_“Oh my god….oh my god, Mr. Stark, sir, I am so...I am so sorry, I...this is completely my fault, I’m so sorry.”_

“Oh my god, Mr. Stark, I...I did not expect this at all, I never applied for any internship I…”

“It’s fine, kid, I’m not here about an internship,” Tony pulled up a video, “That’s you isn’t it?”

“No, that’s not me,” the kid insisted. After a couple minutes of going up and back, Tony pulled down the suit from the ceiling and raised an eyebrow, “Okay, maybe it is…but seriously you can’t tell anyone, like anybody at all. My aunt doesn’t even know and no one at school knows and if anyone finds out then I’ll be ruined and won’t be able to be a normal highschool kid.”

_“Take a breath, kid.”_

“You need to slow down a little bit,” Tony sighed, “I’m not going to tell anyone.”

“Okay...thank you,” the boy said softly.

“I need to know if you could do me a favor and I’ll upgrade that little suit of yours for you.”

“Yeah…, yeah I might be able to,” the kid nodded.

_“What’s your name, kid?”_

“Alright…, what’s your name, kid?”

_“Quentin Beck, sir.”_

“Oh,” the boy gave him a small smile, “I’m Peter Parker, sir.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading everyone!


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